Injured player

[KCKUMP]

We go by obr. League bats roster. Kid gets hurt so it drops them from 12 players to 11. Is it an out when the injured players spot comes up?

[pnewton]

OBR has no rule on this, it strictly bats 9. The league needs to have a rule for this if they have the bat everyone rule. I have seen both the automatic out and just skip that turn in different leagues.

[stkjock]

most youth leagues allow the spot in the order to be skipped for an sick or injured player, not one that leaves early, so sometimes kids suddenly get hurt  

[Rich Ives]

10 hours ago, KCKUMP said:

We go by obr. League bats roster. Kid gets hurt so it drops them from 12 players to 11. Is it an out when the injured players spot comes up?

Official LL says skip the spot without penalty - no matter why the player is no longer there.

[beerguy55]

And I've seen tourneys that do the auto-out, with the provision that the player can return to the game later if he "gets better".   In the ones that "squeeze" the lineup when the player leaves, they typically can't return.

[MadMax]

“Participation over penalty”

Cooperstown Dreams Park was one of the inspirations for this way of handling injuries, and other tournaments, invitationals, and leagues have adopted it to satisfaction. CDP is surely not the sole origin, but it handles several different structures into a system that, while initially confusing to some (adults... the kids just wanna play), allows for participation over penalty and makes for some memorable baseball.

At the root level, if the teams bat everyone (usually 11 or 12, possibly up to 15), then it is to foster participation and development and not have to go through the rigamarole of substitutions and the eventual shenanigans that ensue. Defensive positions can be exchanged freely (the term “free substitutions” is used here) for all but the pitcher. Leagues and tournaments often have their own rules for pitchers (usually governed by pitch/out/inning limit). Regardless, the batting order, once submitted to the TD/FM/LD/PU, is not touched... except if there is to be an “injury (or issue) withdrawal”. 

Kid gets injured while on defense? Swap him out. Is the injury just temporary, and he’d be otherwise good-to-go after having it attended to the next half-inning? Sure, he can resume participation, and he can bat again. If that injury prohibits further participation, then he is removed / scratched / withdrawn from the batting lineup for the rest of the game completely. The lineup just compresses, condenses, or he is skipped with no penalty... except if the resulting lineup drops below 9. Some leagues / tournaments allow for a team to field 8, but this isn’t the norm, and the batting order is still built around 9, so if it is less than 9, then the absent spot in the order is (only then) an Out.

As @Rich Ives mentioned, this withdrawal or scratch can be for any reason – injury, allergic reaction, band recital, family event, family emergency. The point is, that kid can no longer participate in that game.

So what to do if a kid gets injured on offense (and he’s not Out on the play)? Attend to the kid, place a “special, one-time courtesy runner” on the base in his stead (either last out, or if the DC is being a real hada$$, let him choose the Runner), and once that SCR is Retired, or Scores, or the inning ends, we check on the injured player. If player can no longer participate, then he is withdrawn from the lineup as previously explained. If he turns out to be alright, and the coaches (and parents) are fine with it, he can resume participation. This is crucial to do for HBP in the head area especially! You do not want a kid who may have a concussion running the basepaths! There may be no way to tell for several minutes. It is far more prudent to get the kid to the dugout or beyond, and be attended to and checked over, than it is to get him physically on base. Typically, the coaches and parents will notify the TD/LD/PU that the kid can no longer participate, and then he’s withdrawn.

The same is enforced for Ejections (players only). If a kid is ejected, and there are no substitutes (for the batting lineup), then his spot is struck from the lineup and it compresses or condenses... again, so long as it doesn’t drop below 9. Individual kids can do, or say, the stupidest things.

Now, there are some variations to this that leagues and tournaments can build in. Some will cap a “bat everyone” lineup at 10, with a DH (like NFHS, covering a player who can’t / doesn’t bat) and an EH. Or, 11-12, with those Extra Hitters able to freely exchange on defense at any time. In these cases, the team may have 13-16 (or more) players with them, and those players are treated as (potential) substitutes. You would most often see this in tournament / academy teams carrying a bunch of pitchers, wherein they don’t necessarily want to “bat everyone”.

Keep in mind OBR was codified in a time of gentlemen. Injuries were rare, and if they did occur and there were no available substitutes, then the game would be delayed or even postponed to be resumed later. In amateur (youth) baseball, any number of things may affect the lineup during a game – including having to go to granny’s funeral – that can be rectified without having to impose the draconian Out.