Hit by pitch

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Rita C

Question: Pitch is in batter's box but batter only turns to take the pitch in the back.

Is that enough effort to avoid for you all? I have a friend that wants a major bailout before he sends a batter to first.

Rita

I think that your friend might be a former pitcher.

I'm a pitcher's umpire for balls and strikes, but a batter's umpire when it comes to being hit. In most of my games, batters get hit when a pitch gets away from F1 or when he tries to come inside and misses. I see no reason for the batter to pay for the pitcher's mistakes.

The only exception is the batter who's hanging over the plate. He put himself in harm's way, so he needs to do a little more to get out of the way if F1 comes inside.