hit by pitch

[yankeesfan]

how much effort must a batter give when trying to avoid getting hit by a pitch? situation: pitch is throw and hits the batter in his back. batter clearly in batters box, ball not even close to plate, coach screams he made no attempt to get out of the way. very next pitch, ball hits batter in his head. batter turned his head slightly, a curve ball that didnt curve. coach starts screaming again and then adds "your terrible anyways", needless to say i tossed him. both pitches were way off the plate. please give some advice.

[UmpJM]

yankeesfan,

As a coach, I would say....

(Assuming you awarded the batters 1B in each case)

Good call(s) Blue!

Good toss too.

At the risk of repeating myself, at times it can be quite emabarrassing to be a coach.

Sounds to me like you know what you're doing.

JM

[briancurtin]

pitchers need to not throw the ball in the batter's box. if you get hit within the vertical confines of the box, first base is yours. however, if you reach out and try to get hit, you are sticking around for at least another pitch.

thats how i look at it. if the batter doesnt move at all, why penalize him for the pitcher's mistake?

[ctblu40]

I agree with Brian on this one. How am I supposed to read the batters mind? Maybe the batter thought the ball was going to break? Batters are fooled by pitches all the time. At least that's my answer to a coach who wants me to keep the batter in the box.
JMHO

[waltjp]

Any batter that's willing to take one in the head for the sake of the team deserves first base.

I can only remember one time when I didn't award first base on a HBP. It was a slow curveball and the batter just stood there and let it hit him. When I told him to stay in the box he just smiled at me. His coach didn't say a peep either.

In general, I think it's pretty obvious when the batter doesn't make an attempt to get out of the way, and when in doubt, put the batter on first.

[3appleshigh]

Personally, I love this rule, If it is obvious that the batter could have and should have gotten out of the way, leave him in the box. If the batter didn't move at all, no flinch no nothing leave him in the box. In a reg OBR game, the batters box bit is not the RULE that is NCAA. If the pitcher is throwing 40mph beachballs, and the batter takes it without moving at all, Leave him in the Box. Also throwing your body in the way is a ticket to resume the batting position. Now then if the pitcher is throwing curveballs at guys for strikes then plunks a kid, movement or not he's getting his bag.

That said, in your stitch, Hit in the Back, there is movement, might be silly movement, but I'm going to give a base. Hit in the head, you get your base, if you have trained yourself to take a beanball your better than anyone I know Take your base. The human mind tries not to put the body in harm's way. Therefore standing still is a conscious act.

P.S. the Rule says must make an attempt to get out of the way, there is no further provision for - unless in BB or a curveball, or a fastball that froze the batter. So my stance usually is give me the attempt I'll give you the bag.

Personally I have called two pitches that hit the batter as not a free bag. 1 a strike, batter then grounded out, 2. just recently, leaned into the pitch, batter then hit into a triple play. I have no issues with either call they were correct. Also had minimum of 15 HBP that got there base if not double that #. Also this year is the first year that I have put a player back in the box and they haven't gotten a hit. Usually an extra base hit too.

[briancurtin]

Originally Posted by 3appleshigh

If the pitcher is throwing 40mph beachballs, and the batter takes it without moving at all, Leave him in the Box.

why penalize the batter for the pitchers mistake though?

[cbfoulds]

Originally Posted by briancurtin

why penalize the batter for the pitchers mistake though?

Nope: not what's happening.
Not gonna penalize the D for the batter's failure to make any effort at all when he had ample time and opportunity to do so.
Most of the time the NCAA standard works great for all levels, and I basically follow it: if the pitch is in the BB [to say nothing of clear BEHIND the batter], little Roscoe is going to 1st UNLESS he simply stands there and tracks the ball in it's lazy flight [think SP softball] toward him: PLUNK [big grin and start to 1stB] - whoa!, stay right there, the count is now 1&2, PLAY. If'n he's got time to ask his dugout for a second opinion about whether it's gonna hit him, he's not getting the bag unless he makes SOME effort to get out of the way.
"Why penalise [him]?..." - 'Cause that's what the Rule says I'm s'posed to do [other than @ NCAA games].
Curves that don't break, [real] fastballs too far inside: another matter entirely.

[SanDiegoSteve]

Last week in a Pony game, the star player of the team was batting and tracked a slow breaking ball all the way into his foot. He had ample opportunity to simply lift his foot and avoid being hit. He starts running to first when I call, "Ball, stay right here!" The coach started to squawk, but I told him that he intentionally allowed the ball to hit him, and he had time to move his foot. The coach dropped the subject, and Superstar got back in the box.

Two pitches later, he hit a 2-run homer. The other night I had the bases in a tournament, and the kid was playing shortstop. He walked up while I was in C and thanked me for putting him back in the box!

[RPatrino]

Steve is on the right track! It's very hard for me to see a batter get hit and not give him 1b. I have only kept a batter in the box once, on a slow curve ball that the batter actually moved INTO to get hit. The key is the batter should not allow himself to get hit.

I was on the bases for a varsity game this season, batter got hit with slow curves twice in a row and didn't move, my partner kept him in the box both times. Nary a peep from the coach or bench.

The keys for me are, 1) did the batter have time to move?, and 2) did he attempt to avoid getting hit?

[NIump50]

Originally Posted by 3appleshigh

That said, in your stitch, Hit in the Back, there is movement, might be silly movement, but I'm going to give a base.

Not sure getting hit in the back is so silly.
99% of the batters are taught to turn inside and take the pitch in the back.
Much better than trying to back out and getting hit in the ribs or the arm.

If I get any movement at all, even a flinch, I give the base. If they stand still on a curve ball, no base, if they were wanting to swing, they would have movement. A batter who stands like a statue and lets a curve ball hit him had no intention of ever swinging and every intention of getting hit. no base!!!!

[Dave Hensley]

Originally Posted by NIump50

Not sure getting hit in the back is so silly.
99% of the batters are taught to turn inside and take the pitch in the back.
Much better than trying to back out and getting hit in the ribs or the arm.

If I get any movement at all, even a flinch, I give the base. If they stand still on a curve ball, no base, if they were wanting to swing, they would have movement. A batter who stands like a statue and lets a curve ball hit him had no intention of ever swinging and every intention of getting hit. no base!!!!

Perhaps it's just a matter of degree, but I find many of the comments from different people to be saying essentially the same thing with respect to curveballs, and I kind of differ in philosophy. I'm not going to hold a batter to any more stringent standard for reacting to a curveball than any other pitch. Batters have to know how to hit a curveball, and bailing out before it breaks is decidedly NOT a part of that training. Batters should have a right to stay in and ready to hit a curveball, and if it doesn't break enough or at all and hits the batter, as long as he hasn't leaned into it or stuck a chicken wing out there to get hit intentionally, then that's the pitcher's bad, not the hitter's.

I think the NCAA has the right idea with this rule. The strikezone belongs to the pitcher and the batter's box belongs to the batter. If you throw in the batter's box and hit the batter, he should get 1B.