Dropped Pitch

[IRISHMAFIA]

Originally Posted by UmpireErnie

Why is batter taking off, she is assuming ball four?

7-6-D does not specify this but I believe this out would be called only if the batter still had the bat in her hand. Otherwise, on a discarded bat I am going to fall back on the distinction of ball hitting the bat vs bat hitting the ball. This rule is designed to penalize a batter who is hitting the ball while outside the box.

Only a BR can "discard" a bat, so I don't think this would apply

If this is going to be ball four, I see no reason why the batter must wait for the ball to reach the plate. As long as her discarding the bat cannot be considered INT it's simply ball four and now the batter isn't a batter she is a batter-runner so 7-6 ("The batter is out:") no longer applies.

Just because a ball is rolling to the plate, does not make it ball four until it reaches the plate and is touched by the catcher. After all, the batter may still attempt to hit the ball if they choose, may even miss the ball. If a runner is stealing and the batter is standing there with the bat cocked and the catcher steps out in front of the plate, that is CO. You are making an assumption of a ruling that just isn't supported by the rules. In FP, the pitch hitting the ground is not a dead ball and the play must be allowed to come to come to a conclusion.

Mind you, I like to call outs as much as the next umpire, but..

And mind you, I'm only citing the rules which clearing state it is an out. Granted, the odds of a play like this occurring are remote, but the rules is what they is