Question on Mistaken called 4th ball.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by tibear

By the rules, your gut was right. Very slow steal of 2nd and 3rd. Batter put back at the plate.

That's why umpires should verbalize ball four or he should have called the batter back after a couple of steps towards first.

If the umpire did send the runner to first by mistake, it doesn't change anything with regards to correcting the situation.

I disagree that we should verbalize ball 4. I never verbalize ball 4 and the players know when they have walked. Also the players in the field need to know the situation. Just like a dropped third strike with a runner on first base and less than 2 outs. If the catcher throws over to first base, we are not supposed to tell the world they are making a mistake.

In this case you should bring the batter back to the plate and allow all runners that advanced to their rightful base.

Peace