Batter advance to second on wild pitch
 

Can a batter advance/steal second on a wild overthrow for a ball 4 count ?

Batter left home running towards 1st on a ball 4 pitch that went behind catcher. Upon arriving at 1st he then ran to second because catcher had not secured the ball. Can he legally do this?

Yes, the BR can run unless the wild throw on ball four goes into dead ball territory. In that case, he gets first base only.

Well, you'll see this more in small ball (small diamond) than on the big diamond but it is a perfectly legal move under all 3 rule books.

Not only may he do this, he can round ALL the bases.

Bob

Sgavre, just curious. Why did you chose to post this question as your first post on this forum?

Because he wasn't sure of the answer, i.e. that a walk is still a live ball. After having gone through this with my son as a 9 year old and parents screaming "he can't do that" you have to explain to them the ball is still live, because the vast majority have absolutely no clue.

Just like idiot coaches even some at HS level who immediately after a walk, try to call time and start walking towards the mound without any regard for the situation.

Those 'idiot' coaches are looking for 'bigger idiot' umpires who hopefully will kill the play before anything bad can happen. Don't be so quick to label coaches as 'idiots'.

Maybe Sgavre is a coach or fan? Certainly he's not an umpire.

I'm not referring to coaches as idiots in general. I'm referring to coaches who by experience are expected to know that a walk is a live ball action and that time should not be asked for until the BR gets to first. I don't expect coaches first starting out to understand, but there is absolutely no excuse for a HS level coach to not know, and if they do it as a ploy to kill the action, they ought to be tossed - no ifs, ands, or buts about it. And yes, there are some bigger idiot umpires out there.

Sgavre may in fact be a coach or a fan. He also realizes he is not aware of the rule, and I would also think that he knows I'm not referring to him as an idiot.