ARK1215

In a 12U game I had a defensive coach standing outside the dugout, in play along the first base fence. He deliberately stopped a ball from rolling to the fence with his foot. I don’t think it would have gone out of play but I assumed it would have. I awarded bases accordingly. He argued. I asked him why stop the ball if it wouldn’t have gone out of play? He had no reply. He was in the dugout the rest of the game. Some coaches just don’t think haha.

No.

Sounds like they were lucky to have someone familiar with umpiring there to help out. If I were you I would not have called any balks I wasn’t 100% sure of. What you describe sounds like a balk but without certainty let it go. Just my take.

Good point on the swipe tag. From that distance it’s often ball beats runner, tag looks clean, runner out. The instinct to go left is, I think, because the catcher goes right when a RH batter is in the plate.

He has to meet both criteria. A pitcher who pitches in a save situation but isn’t the last pitcher is credited with a hold provided his team kept the lead the entire time after that pitcher left. The pitcher on the mound at the end of a game is credited with the final out and therefore at least 1/3 of an inning even if he doesn’t retire a batter (caught stealing or a pickoff to end the game). I cannot think of a scenario where a pitcher would be the final pitcher of the game and not credited with at least 1/3 of an inning.

Address it in your pregame meeting. I let them know I’ll hustle to get a good angle and when possible get closer. I also remind the HC’s I’m working solo so they have to deal with the inaccuracies that come with it. If they want someone 10’ away on a steal they should pay for 2 umps. I’ve got pretty good 20/15 vision though so if a kid looks out I’m calling it, I don’t care if I’m 130’ away.

Agreed. You can’t close enough distance to make the call any easier. Solo is all about angles. I think being on the 3rd base side of the plate gives the better angle.

Back to second unless forced to advance because there was a runner on first too (which it doesn’t sound like). When the ball becomes dead on the HBP the unforced runners return to or stay at the base they occupied at the time of the pitch.

Not too long ago I had a dropped 3rd with no outs and R1 stealing second. Batter runs, catcher throws the ball into right field trying to putout the batter at first base. R1 comes around to score. Batter ends up on second. I call the batter out because first base was occupied at the time of the dropped 3rd. But I let the run count because the play was live. I had the defensive coach on me for letting the run count and the offensive coach on me for calling the batter out. After I explained the play in about 10 seconds they both simultaneously realized they were both upset for nothing.

This sounds dangerous. Visualize R3 sliding into home as the batter is taking a swing.

Even if the contact with the ball occurs outside of the batters box?

This is how I interpret it... If the batter steps out without time being granted the umpire should call a strike on the batter. If the pitch is thrown and doesn’t hit the batter the ball should be live and either a ball or strike called on the pitch. A ball that hits a batter while he’s out of the batter’s box is either a ball or strike (depending on where the ball was) not a HBP, and the ball is dead. In this situation it’s strike (for stepping out of the box without being granted time), then a ball (for the location of the pitch). If it’s strike 3 the batter is out. If it’s not strike 3 but it is ball 4 it’s a base on balls. If it’s neither strike 3 nor ball 4, one strike and one ball is added to the count and the batter remains at bat. The ball is dead for contacting the batter and runners go back except if forced by a base on balls.

Good points. I interpreted the rule that way as well.

Thanks for the info.

Thanks. I did read that 2018 case. I guess I was looking for something more like the specific situation involving the batter. I appreciate you taking the time to help me out.