Made some bad calls today, just need to vent..

[Rich Ives]

Twice a batter was called out for letting go of his bat too early, the second time the batter let go of the bat and it struck the plate umpire in the mask.


What?

[SAump]

Originally Posted by Rich Ives

Twice a batter was called out for letting go of his bat too early, the second time the batter let go of the bat and it struck the plate umpire in the mask.


What?

I worked a summer LL league where the best hitter on a team did this in virtually every at bat of the season. Fortunately, the bat never hit the catcher or PU in a majority of those cases. I was shocked to see a coach argue in defense of his hitter when the hitter was ejected from one ball game. The young man was batting cleanup, but he never learned how to safely handle a bat. An injury to the plate umpire or catcher by an inexpeienced hitter who doesn't get as much instruction about handling a bat should be a concern to everyone. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, grown adults choose not to do anything about it.

I can only imagine the kid continued to do the same thing for the rest of his JV games throughout the city. The rules do not consider the batter's actions severe enough to warrant a harsher penalty than an immediate substitution, ala ejection. Oh. I forgot to mention that the substitute was much faster, usually stole 2B on the next pitch, and never batted cleanup either. I wonder how many other catchers and umpires were struck by the same flying bat.