Strike?

[JJ]

R1 attempts to steal. Batter begins to "swing through" the pitch to distract the catcher, but the pitch is a pitch out - way out of the batter's reach - so he checks his swing. (Clearly) After the catcher has thrown the ball, the batter slowly swings the bat in frustration because he could not swing through to distract the catcher.
All of this description is my opinion, but the end result was the batter did not swing at or swing through the pitch in anything close to real time.

Strike? Can you get that one and if so, how would you justify it? At what point does a swing stop being called a strike?

JJ

[mbyron]

He checked his swing and did not offer at the pitch. Nothing he does after that is an offer. Not a strike.

You know all this: did you get questions or complaints? I sense a story.

[MikeStrybel]

Originally Posted by JJ

R1 attempts to steal. Batter begins to "swing through" the pitch to distract the catcher, but the pitch is a pitch out - way out of the batter's reach - so he checks his swing. (Clearly) After the catcher has thrown the ball, the batter slowly swings the bat in frustration because he could not swing through to distract the catcher.
All of this description is my opinion, but the end result was the batter did not swing at or swing through the pitch in anything close to real time.

Strike? Can you get that one and if so, how would you justify it? At what point does a swing stop being called a strike?

JJ

John, I don't see a strike, since the batter did not swing at a pitch - according to your description, he checked his swing. If this was an IHSA game, you could justify it through 7-2-1b: the batter did not strike at a pitch and miss, since he slowly swung the bat after the catcher had thrown the ball. We see batters practice swing all of the time after a pitch has been delivered and the catcher is returning it. No strike there.

I don't have interference either since his actions did not impede the defensive play.

I take it that you had a coach bite on the call. What happened?

[kylejt]

"Did he attempt to strike at the pitched ball?"

That's the only question you have to answer.

I had a kid completely whirl around, with him hugging the bat, on an inside pitch last night. (why? I don't know, but he was a kid). The bat made a hell of a trip, but there was no intent on the striking the ball. And that's the key.

[BestUmp]

Originally Posted by JJ

R1 attempts to steal. Batter begins to "swing through" the pitch to distract the catcher, but the pitch is a pitch out - way out of the batter's reach - so he checks his swing. (Clearly) After the catcher has thrown the ball, the batter slowly swings the bat in frustration because he could not swing through to distract the catcher.
All of this description is my opinion, but the end result was the batter did not swing at or swing through the pitch in anything close to real time.

Strike? Can you get that one and if so, how would you justify it? At what point does a swing stop being called a strike?

JJ

No strike here, JJ by definition of the term "check swing". Since the catcher has released the baseball, your batter is legal.

Hope everyone had a great time at your game!

[JJ]

I was the PU. Told the coach (whose catcher easily threw out the runner and who was fishing for the strike as well) that the batter didn't offer at the pitch. He asked for, and got, a request to ask for help. "No swing" was the answer. He still wanted to discuss it, and was told one more time "He didn't offer at the pitch". After that it was "No more discussion on balls and strikes"....but it did look odd, which was why it was questioned in the first place. First time I've ever seen it in 30 years of work....

JJ

[mbyron]

It's a funny game.