Strike or HBP ?

[CecilOne]

What do you think about this? Batter is ready to bunt, but the pitch is so far inside it hits her in the leg. She had the bat out in front of her as if to bunt and it moved forward as the pitch arrived. My judgement was that the bat moved because she was off balance from trying to move her feet backward (away from the plate) to avoid the pitch. The defensive coach though it should be called a strike, no base awarded, because the bat moved as if she was bunting. My partner concurred with me that it was not an offer, but movement caused by trying to avoid the ball.

BTW, I insisted the coach tell me what his specific objection was before I would explain the call and before I would ask my partner's opinion.

[AtlUmpSteve]

Sounds to me like you got it right. Every rule book and umpire manual that I know of says the primary determining factor that you must use is if the batter made an attempt to hit the ball. That alone supercedes any other discussion of the bat moving, or how far, or did the wrists break, etc., etc.

Since both you and your partner judged there was no attempt to hit the ball, everything else the defensive coach had to say had no basis; just trying to get a call.

[CecilOne]

Also see the early part of Batter hit after swing

I quoted this comment by Mike almost verbatim:

"it doesn't appear that the batter attempted to hit the ball, so it can only be a strike if the ball was in the strike zone when hitting the batter "

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

Also see the early part of Batter hit after swing

I quoted this comment by Mike almost verbatim:

"it doesn't appear that the batter attempted to hit the ball, so it can only be a strike if the ball was in the strike zone when hitting the batter "

Are there royalties available here?

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Are there royalties available here?

No, only commoners!