NFHS Baseball Test Part 1

[Rich]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Going by the rule, you only have to have one and that is whether or not the batter struck at the ball. The location of the barrel in relation of the body "may" be used to help determine this.

From what I am gathering from Mike's post, it sounds like they are intending that both criteria must be met at least according to their preseason guide. But then the Fed has never issued a publication such as a POE or preseason guide that contradicts the rule, right?

The NFHS still wants plate umpires to cover third on bases empty triples and have the plate umpire run over the mound to cover the plate. How can I possibly take any of their stuff seriously when they can't fix something that elementary? I find it amusing that Mike talks about "modern mechanics" and yet the NFHS mechanics are about as archaic as they come.

The only supplemental materials I keep with me are the BRD, the Evans, the PBUC manual, and the J/R manual. The BRD usually handles (quite well) all the gratuitous differences between the NFHS and normal baseball rules and Evans typically covers everything the PBUC manual does not.

The NCAA has used the bat in front of the body criteria for years now (unless they've changed -- I decided spending 10+ hours of my day umpiring 18 innings for $185 was a poor use of my weekends). It's merely a criteria that gets us back to the rulebook language of "did he make an attempt." I think I can handle that without being told I have to look for a bat crossing the body. I guess that's arrogance. Sigh.