Little League On Deck Batter

[Ump20]

Jim Porter's presentation on Little League safety rules states in part...

"No on-deck batters? This ain't baseball, it's wussball!"
Do you remember the furor over deaths resulting to children from blunt-chest impacts by baseballs a few years back? Just to remind you, children have died when a ball struck their chests causing ventricular fibrillation or asystole (commotio cordis). Some scientists even proved their theory on poor, unsuspecting pigs. Well, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended that all youth leagues eliminate the on-deck circle to reduce the risk of this terrifying phenomenon.

That makes perfect sense. The next time you're at your local 60-foot diamond, take a look at the amount of foul territory. If you're lucky enough to have a chain link fence around your field, you'll notice that there is very little space indeed. That places an on-deck hitter very close to home plate. Considering children have slower reaction times, and less co-ordination than older players, we would be giving them less of an area to react in should a ball come their way. If a sharply fouled ball should strike that on-deck hitter in the chest, what do you suppose might happen? Thus, the ban.

Jim Porter certainly is considered an expert on Little League and I thought that his discussion in the Member Section was quite valuable. I will always enforce a safety rule especially at the younger age levels. It is my understanding that there is no on-deck batter permitted anywhere on a Little League field even behind the backstop. Jim pointed out the danger of an on-deck batter being hit on field with a batted ball. Even in games that are at higher levels of ball I will not permit an on-deck batter if I believe he/she is too close to home plate. The prohibition of an on-deck batter anywhere is I believe due to incidents in which a careless player practicing their swing hit small children. It is certainly okay to let the batter take a couple of practice swings as they take their position in the batters box. Jim/NYC