LSU/Texas AM game

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by topper

Where does this mentality stop? Should umpires be instructed to call a swing at any movement of the bat by the batter? How about having them consider the ball beating a runner to a base on a tag play as all that's necessary for an out? After all, two moving items right? I'd prefer the interpretation of rules and the concepts of officiating not be dumbed down to the least common denominator. I can, however, appreciate the huge effort it takes to achieve consistency.

Not replying to the hyperbole...

But if consistency is what you're after (and I would agree), then the current interpretation is the only way to achieve it. You and I might not agree with it, but if we go with what others are saying (or what we, ourselves, might say had there been no direction on this at all)... then you have all sorts of in-between situations where both ball and bat are moving that would receive differing rulings by different umpires.

The case that started this - bat moving directly away from ball, ball catching up with and contacting bat - might be straight-forward and achieve near unanimous agreement amongst umpires... but we're dealing with 2 objects possibly moving in different directions and different speeds.

What about a bat moving diagonally away from the ball, but the ball catches up to it.
What about a bat moving perpendicular to the motion of the ball that comes in contact with a moving ball ... how would you judge speed of the bat and ball here, how would you determine if the bat hit the ball or the ball hit the bat - both hit each other.
What about a bat moving very slowly diagonally toward the ball, but the ball moving much faster when they contact each other... bat hit ball? ball hit bat.

What your suggesting would achieve NO consistency. It's not about dumbing down - it's about the fact that we would all have different opinions on identical plays ... which we SHOULD NOT HAVE.

What we're told on this play achieves PERFECT consistency - if the bat is moving - enforce the bat hitting the ball part of the rules. If the bat is not moving - enforce the ball hitting the bat part of the rules. Simple - and consistent across all umpires.