OBR: BR Hit by batted ball.
 

Men,

Please excuse the new thread, since I could not find the older one on this topic.

R1, 1-1 count. BR hits a ball on the dirt in front of the plate. Ball goes up in the air then hits him in the helmet. One foot is out of the box, the other is in the air, but not established on fair territory. Immediate foul ball I called, since BR has not been established in Fair territory.

There was disagreement among us as to whether he is out or not on this play. I still believe he is not out since the batter is still considered in the box. But this is an old OBR interp. from many years ago. If this is considered an out now, please let me know, plus any references if you have them. I prefer being told I am right, I am on a diet and crow is fattening.

Thanks!

Man, I hope that crow tastes okay! Maybe with a little salsa?

If the BR had one foot on the ground, entirely out of the batters box at the time his fair ball contacted his body, then he is out for interference. Rules 6.05 (g) and 7.09 (k) in OBR. Not sure of FED because I have no rule book.

The relevant FED rule is 8-4-2(k).

This play is HTBT. I can envision a play where the "expected call" might be the way to go, even if "technically" the BR was in fair territory when hit by the batted ball. OTOH, if he's clearly 2 steps down the line, then he's out.

That becomes a game management issue, and will vary with the level of ball.

I'd use 8.4.1B: B1 squares to bunt and hit the pitch. The batted ball bounces off the plate and hits B1's (a) leg or (b) bat a second time while B1 is holding the bat in the batter's box (no foot is entirely outside of the batter's box). Ruling: Foul ball (edited).

Note the definition of "in the batter's box."

By my reading, if one foot is entirely out of the batter's box, the the batter would be out.

I agree with this. Unless the batter is OBVIOUSLY out of the box, call it foul and SELL IT!

I always remember it with the hitting out of the box rule. One foot out= batter's out.

The foot has to be on the ground entirely outside the box for the batter to be out of the box. On a push bunt, a RH batter can be well out over the plate and still be in the box. That gives some leeway for the sales job that needs to be done when I call it foul.

Arguably, the "in the box" definition applies only to HITTING the ball while out of the box, but it makes sense to apply it to the batter (or his still-held bat) being hit by a fair batted ball as well.

Dash
 

You better believe I sold the call, the only I could have done it better was to use GM or Chrysler government bailout money for rebates.

But it was the same old stuff, team bat yells "great call, ump", team in the field says "ask your partner, you're wrong".

BTW, I don't like salsa, either.