Illegal pitch? Ball awarded?

[dash_riprock]

I never put my hand up unless the ball is already dead. I put it up just before I put the ball back in play. That's it.

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by dash_riprock

I never put my hand up unless the ball is already dead. I put it up just before I put the ball back in play. That's it.

I do the same thing. I do not hold my hand up, even if the batter asks me to do so because that causes the ball to be dead. I don't say anything to the batter and they usually do not notice that I am not holding up my hand. High school pitchers never pitch the ball anyway. They wait. This is especially true with runners on base. The runners should not lose their liability to be picked off, nor should the pitcher lose the option to pick them off simply because the batter is digging in.

There is no need for the umpire to hold up his hand because, by rule, the pitcher has an obligation to not deliver the pitch until the batter is reasonably ready. A pitcher who delivers the ball while the batter is clearly not ready (i.e. head down and digging in) is violating a rule. There is no reason to make the ball dead in this situation. Pitchers should have the situational awareness not to pitch the ball when the batter is not ready. Nearly all of them do.