What would you do?

[oppool]

Ok guys I need help,

A player hurts their knee sliding into a base the coach informs you that the player will stay in the game to play 1st (no subs available) but will no longer be able to bat when his time comes to bat they want to take a automatic out.

Would you allow this or tell coach if player is going to play defense than he is going to have to get in the box and take pitches when his turn comes up to bat?

And if you would allow this would you allow the opposite the player to bat but play short-handed defensivly


Thanks

Don

[IRISHMAFIA]

Speaking ASA

I assume that the team is not already playing short-handed.

No, I would not allow the team to do this. For an automatic out to occur under the short-handed rule, the spot in the batting order must be vacant. If the player is in the field, their name must be in the batting order.

If the player is still in the game, the defense has the right to face that batter. Yes, the batter may delay until the umpire calls three strikes on him. However, if this were a SP game, as the defense, I would intentionally walk the batter and clog up the bases. If the BR then refused to partake in the game, I just may consider this an act of unsportsmanlike conduct. Now he's ejected and the team loses because you cannot play short-handed due to ejection.

Of course, before any of this would occur, I would talk to the coach and lay out all of these scenarios because I don't want to forfeit the game if I can help it.

Remember, the short-handed rule was put into place to avoid forfeits and encourage participation. For as much as one team has the right to manipulate the rules, so does their opponent.

One more point. As the authoritive figure on the ball field, an umpire who permits a player who admittedly is too injured to play 100% of the game, may be placing themselves in a precarious situation should that player's injury become severe. Even though it was of their own will, that doesn't stop a a good lawyer from winning a judgement against you.