3.05 (OBR) Question
 

3.05 (OBR) says "the pticher named in the batting order handed the umpire-in-chief, as provieded by rules 4.01 (a) and 4.01 (b) (that just talks about processes for exchanging lineups durning groundrules), shall pitch to the first batter or any substitute batter until such batter is put out or reaches first base, unless the pitcher sustains injury or illness which, in the judgement of the umpire-in-chief- incapacitates him from pitching.

If I read this correctly, that means that the home team pitcher must bat in the top of the 1st if neccessary? But any other player can be pinch-hit for?

Not if he's in the American League.:D

Correct, unless you have re-entry or the DH.

Tuss, this has nothing to do with whether the pitcher is forced to bat or not. It is refering that the pitcher named on the batting order is required to pitch to the 1st batter. Lets say, that the visiting team goes ahead by 6 runs in the top of the 1st inning, the visiting coach, wanting to save his best pitcher wants to put a different pitcher in to pitch. He can't do this unless in the judgement of the umpire he can't pitch to the 1st batter.

In a way though it does. Visitors up in top of the first inning (National League game) and they bat all the way through to the pitchers spot. What Tuss is asking is could they now pinch-hit for the pitcher. According to this rule, they couldn't because the starting pitcher has to pitch to the first home team batter in the bottom of the inning.

It also prevents a team from naming a LH Starter for the game to get a certain batting lineup from the offense, and then list the LH starter 1st in the order, and pinchhitting for him immediately, putting in your RH starter in the bottom of the 1st who you'd intended on bringing in all along.

This makes no sense. The batting order is official when handed to the PU. How would Team "A" know what Team "B's" lineup will be before that? And they would not be able to revise their lineup after handing it to the PU.

Bob

In pro ball, the teams know in advance who the starting pitcher is scheduled to be. If the pitcher is changed prior to the game, the other team is notified and can adjust their batting order accordingly.

The manager could circumvent the rule by having his pitcher fake illness.
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