batted ball
 

If a pitched ball contacts any part of the bat (held by the batter), is it necessarily a batted ball? Does it always result in a fair/foul ball, or a caught fly, or caught foul tip, or possibly even an illegally batted ball?

Suppose the batter backs out of the box to avoid being hit by pitch, and the ball hits the knob of the bat. Is he out (IBB)?

Yes, a batted ball is a batted ball.

And no, why would he be out if the ball hit the knob of the bat? It's a live ball, just like it hit any other part of the bat - and what the result is depends on what happened next ... just like it hit any other part of the bat.

I would say by rule, that if the batter has stepped completly out of the box with one foot when the ball hits the knob, then the batter would be out.

I dont beleive I would ever be looking at his feet on an inside pitch like that. I will be watching the ball and the batters hands to determine if the ball hit the hands first (HBP) or the knob of the bat first (fair/foul).

True. I guess the point I was trying to make was it's not a special case - it's exactly the same if it hits the knob or another other place, or if the batter was or was not trying to hit it. If it hit the bat, it hit the bat. In that latter case, if the batter had one foot fully outside the box and touching the ground when the ball hit the bat, they would be out.

And... like you, I find that situation to be INCREDIBLY hard for an umpire to see - we're watching the ball to see what contacts it. If we're looking at the ball and it hits the knob ... well ... we aren't simultaneously looking at feet. Even if we knew (because of the degree of bailing out of the box) that he was not in the box ... do we know he was in contact with the ground at that instant? Probably not.

assuming it contacted the bat FIRST. If it hits the batters hand (or any other part of the batter) first and then the bat it is a HBP.

It can be a batted ball, but it's not going to be an illegally batted ball.

I'm pretty sure there's some interp on that somewhere.

What if it hits the ground first, and then the bat? I know batters can hit a pitch that bounced.

There is no rule prohibiting this. The batter can offer at any pitched ball that is still live.

Doesn't matter. The only thing a pitch that hits the ground can't be is a called strike or a caught pitch (i.e. D3K). Otherwise, hitting the ground is completely immaterial to every rule.

You didn't see some of my umpires this summer.

Maybe so, but I have worked with a few of them. :)

It can be a foul tip.

That turns it into a batted ball. It's then no longer a pitch. Any batted ball is a "play it".

2.00 "A FOUL TIP is a batted ball . . . "

A foul tip is a batted ball that is also a caught strike. Is it a batted ball without fair/foul status?

It is no longer a bounced pitch.

No batted ball is fair/foul until the criteria are met.