Hit By Pitch?

[UmpJM]

I agree with DG. It's YOUR call, not the batter's.

You see, you hear, you decide, you announce. That's your job.

Back when I was coaching, I recall an umpire who "let the batter decide" (his words, not mine) on an ambiguous HBP sitch. The pitch definitiely hit SOMETHING, but hard to tell whether the bat or the batter was first. Weird play. Ump put it on the batter to decide.

I was not favorably impressed. I may have said something deserving of ejection. (I believe it was along the lines of , "Well, if we're going to let the players decide, I don't see why we're paying for an umpire.")

I was not ejected.

Sometimes the players don't even know they've been hit (or their jersey has, which is the same thing - the shirt IS part of the "torso").

Sometimes they PRETEND they were hit when they weren't. Really.

Don't rush, use all your senses, decide what happened, and tell everyone.

JM