Difference between Swing and Bunt

[mjr_2013]

Little League 12u...Count is 1-2 in the bottom of the 3rd... As the pitcher winds up, the batter takes a half swing, keeping his hands on the rubber handle, but keeping the bat in the zone, not following through... He makes contact and the ball rolls down the 3rd base line before going foul... I call it a bunt on strike 2, and that he is out.

Manager comes out and tells me that it was a swing. I say no, he started the swing as the pitcher wound up and could have followed through or pulled back at any time during the pitch. He argues for a bit that "that is how some kids swing though", before going to the dug out.

When the inning ends, he comes up to me, and tells me he understood my call. He said that he hadn't taught his kids bunting though, and that he was kinda just sticking the bat in the zone o make contact. He laughed and said "He ain't no Ichiro out there!".

All I found in the book is the definition of a bunt, "A BUNT is a batted ball not swung at, but intentionally met with the bat and tapped slowly. The mere holding of the bat in the strike zone is not an attempted bunt."

The problem is that my situation follows each being a bunt and not being a bunt... YES, it was a batted ball not swung at, intentionally met with the bat and tapped slowly..... YES he was just holding the bat in the strike zone...

After reading the definition, I see that some could view me as incorrect, but if this is the case, what stops every batter with two strikes from bunting with their hands on the tape instead of the barrel?

Was my call correct? What should I do if this occurs in the future?

[Umpire in Chief]

This would be a judgement call.

Based on what you wrote I would tend to agree that if he stopped the momentum of his swing when it met the ball and could therefore be a bunt.

That said I have seen quite a few checked swings which turn into hits/fouls when the batter stopped the momentum of the bat.