Hit By Pitch?
 

I've had this situation the last two times I've had games as PU. Inside pitch, I hear what I think is the ball brushing against the batter's jersey or stomach. Each time, I award the batter first base, and each time the batter says the ball didn't hit him. If the batter insists that the ball didn't hit him, do you still put him on first base? May sound like a foolish question, but I'm not exactly sure how to handle this.

Put him on 1B. It is a liability issue. If he gets hit harder with the next pitch, the first thing he will say is "I shouldn't have been there in the first place. The pitch before hit me and the umpire didn't put me on 1B when he knew it hit me."

Don't take the chance. Put him on 1B.

Some hitters want on base, some want to hit. It most likely did not hit HIM, but if it hit his uniform send him to 1B.

"I hear what I think" sounds a bit vague. What did you see? On an inside pitch you should also see it hit him.

not necessarily...if you're one man, he check swings, runner stealing, catcher is in the slot...you might not see anything. i get what you're saying...but sometimes kids will just stand there too...some do a very poor job of selling what they should be selling. reverse your scenario for a moment...what if you think it doesn't hit him and he looks back and says..."that hit me"...do you send him to first? (rhetorical)

If you trust a BR who says it did not hit him, you'll have to trust a BR who claims a ball did hit him.

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

I do not have problems seeing the inside pitch hit the batter, but I sometimes miss the outside ones.:D

You mean you have a hard time seeing an outside pitch hit the other batter? :rolleyes:

During my Pre-game I will state to my crew "If you even think the batter has been hit then call it don't wait." When I am working the plate. I remind everyone that this is a game and we are not in the PROs yet. :rolleyes:

When I am not working the plate I always bring this up in Pre-game. :D

Yeah it happens a lot, the good hitters want to "hit". They don't want to walk. But, you saw it hit him, put him on. If you allow the BR to stay at bat, you are rewarding the BR. F1 might have wanted to put him on to get to the next batter who probably is "not" as good a hitter.

Actually I think most batters don't realize is it hits their jersery, it's still a HBP.

Thanks
David

I might add that it's only a HBP if the jersey is properly worn. That's up for your interpretation but if the jersey is excessively baggy, you should not reward the batter.

-Josh

....have them tuck it in before it gets that point. Look, if ball goes flying into a players shirt, there's little doubt it "hit" him. Have them tunk in those PJs before they step in.

With stuff like that, it's all about being preventative. Have him tuck it in, have him strap his batting gloves, anything that might cause controversy if he's HBP.

FED - OK

OBR, NCAA - no such limitation in the books.

Didn't OBR (long ago) give the batter the option to remain at bat?