Daily trivia (ASA)

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

If that is the case, obviousl, that would be up to the umpire's judgment and it is going to be a tough call either way. It is not like an umpire actually has time, or would it be a priority, to see and try to determine the intent of the batter in this situation. And I do not believe there is a steadfast response here.

As simple as this seems, there may be a lot going on with this play. At what point is the batter not trying to hit the ball? The OP noted that the batter decided not to offer, but as an umpire, you do not know that. Where is the line that the umpire would know that? How do you as the umpire know when and how to determine that batter's intent?

The OP also states the "she can't get it out of the way in time", so apparently the bat was still in a position to bunt the ball. And who placed the bat in such a position with the intent to bunt the ball?

Originally Posted by IRISHMAFIA

Let's take this from another angle. What if there were a NCAA or NFHS game where the definition of an attempted bunt has a twist to it.

Would your ruling be the same?

My question was a simple rule question, no judgment required since the OP told us the batter was no longer attempting to bunt.

I do agree that getting TO that position is a tricky bit.

As it turns out, I have made this call one time. In my case, though, the judgment was easy. The batter squared to bunt, but the pitch comes in "high and tight" as they say. The batter was bailing/diving out of the batter's box and the pitch hits the bat. The batter was clearly not making any attempt to do anything but trying to avoid getting hit in the head.