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6.02 (a) (c)
While working on a story for the paid portion of this site (don't worry, I don't try to recruit new subscribers...I doubt any of you would find anything I have to say to be of any interest), I was speaking with some people at the proschools. They described a new "approved" mechanic for 6.02 (a)(c) that is being taught this year, reflecting the rule change.
For starters, there is no "directed" pitch. There is now an "automatic strike" and the mechanic is: The batter is given two verbal warnings to take his place in the box. If he still refuses, PU then calls "TIME". With his right hand he first points to the appropriate batter's box (not the batter) and announces "That's a strike". He then signals with his usual strike mechanic and announces the new count. If the automatic strike was strike three, he simply says, "That's strike three." He does not use a strike three mechanic. (Since the batter is already pissed at this point, no sense in rubbing it in.) Interesting. |
Good post, Garth. I think the critical part of your post is reminding everyone that this is now a dead ball situation, where in the past the ball remained live on a directed pitch. This is from a summary of the 2006 OBR rule changes.
New Rule: 6.02 (c) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter’s box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out. Editor’s Note: The MLB Umpire Manual’s official interpretation was added here. The change is that no pitch need be thrown for a strike and the ball is now dead when such intentional strikes are called, thereby preventing a batter from jumping back into the box and hitting the ball. Tim. |
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About 10 yrs. ago or so, the Umpires were instructed to call balks in line with the rules, not the way things were. During that time, there were more balks called in 1/2 of the season compared to all of the preceding year. After the All Star break things went back to "normal" which tells me that the Players Union got involved. In a nutshell, baseball can change any of it's rules but ultimately, the Players Union will have the final say. You really think that an umpire in the World Series will call Derek Jeter out on strike three if he fails to show up in the batter's box in accordance with the rules. Pete Booth |
I don't believe the players union will get in a quandary over this rule or interpretation. The root problem is that batters are all to often stepping out of the box after a pitch and adjusting their batting gloves a few too many times (Nomar Garciapara), or some other gyration of adjusting someting.
If the pitchers got the ball, and their ready to toe the rubber, the batter had better get in the box or risk getting a strike called and possible being declared out if it's the third one. I have called this once in a Fed HS Game under the Fed rules. It created a fuss for a moment, but then the game proceeded, and all subseqent batters got in the box appropriately. |
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The mechanic is stated above is was taught at Evans in Oct (AZ Classic). |
this is a good rule change...if I remember correctly, a batter still couldn't, by rule, jump in and hit the pitch...but it wasn't a dead ball sitch...this is a nice, umpire friendly, rule change.
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