Fed question#2, "it shall be called a strike"

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve

e) Pitcher continues and illegally pitches the ball. Strike called, but also an illegal pitch. Enforce exactly like any OTHER time a strike is called on an illegal pitch.

Steve, I'm extremely reluctant to disagree with you. However, this one line (and this line only) is in disagreement with every clinic I've ever attended. The way it's been explained to us, numerous times, is that if the pitcher continues and pitches the ball, it cannot be illegal, and is a strike - the explanation of WHY is that the batter's actions could have caused whatever illegality happened (the example often used is the batter's actions causing pitching missteps like leaps or landing outside the 24), and TPTB don't want to create a situation where the umpire has to decide whether the batters actions caused the misstep or not - the assumption (and the reason for the "the pitch is ruled to be legal" part of the rule) is that it DID cause the misstep - removing the need for judgement on our part.