Case Play 2019-7 - Chicken Little Strike Zone

[Gil 359]

You can't get much more Little League than this. Team Venezuela batter Deivis Ordoñez, nickname Chicken Little, deployed a unique batting stance, crouching down so low that his knee-hollow and upper midpoint are just inches apart vertically. So what is an umpire to do when such tomfoolery takes...

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[LRZ 283]

At what point is "prepared to swing" judged? Is he going to swing from that crouch, or stand up and then swing?

[jjb 204]

Wow,I haven't seen this in years. Easy fix; when you see the kid crouch down, call "time" and walk around to the front of the plate. Tell the batter, "step back", and clean the plate, while watching him out of the corner of your eye. He will most likely take a practice swing. There's your zone....

[agdz59 26]

I haven't read anything more than the two posited cases and looked at the picture.  If I get a batter doing that for more than the one pitch after which I tell him to stop, he's out for making a mockery of the game.  And he's out every other time he tries it.  Next!

[grayhawk 3,640]

5 minutes ago, agdz59 said:

I haven't read anything more than the two posited cases and looked at the picture.  If I get a batter doing that for more than the one pitch after which I tell him to stop, he's out for making a mockery of the game.  And he's out every other time he tries it.  Next!

Don't legislate from the bench.  Just call a ball or strike as the case may be, with all benefit of the doubt going to the pitcher for the top of the zone.

[agdz59 26]

4 minutes ago, grayhawk said:

Don't legislate from the bench.  Just call a ball or strike as the case may be, with all benefit of the doubt going to the pitcher for the top of the zone.

Unless a TD or UIC tells me otherwise I'm using my judgement and calling that a mockery or unsportsmanlike, take your pick.  You aren't taking the game seriously from that stance.  No way in hell you can hit anything from there - it's the definition of mockery.

[The Man in Blue 234]

1 hour ago, agdz59 said:

I haven't read anything more than the two posited cases and looked at the picture.  If I get a batter doing that for more than the one pitch after which I tell him to stop, he's out for making a mockery of the game.  And he's out every other time he tries it.  Next!

Why would you only call him out on his second, fourth, and sixth at bats?

[BlueRanger 78]

If its over the plate, its a strike in my book. That SH*# is embarrassing. The fact that it happened at the LLWS is just icing on the cake.

[ilyazhito 18]

2 hours ago, agdz59 said:

I haven't read anything more than the two posited cases and looked at the picture.  If I get a batter doing that for more than the one pitch after which I tell him to stop, he's out for making a mockery of the game.  And he's out every other time he tries it.  Next!

He meant "every time other than the first".  I'm calling a strike on every pitch over the plate that would be in a normal strike zone. Cut that crap out!

[grayhawk 3,640]

1 hour ago, agdz59 said:

Unless a TD or UIC tells me otherwise I'm using my judgement and calling that a mockery or unsportsmanlike, take your pick.  You aren't taking the game seriously from that stance.  No way in hell you can hit anything from there - it's the definition of mockery.

So he's putting himself and his team at a disadvantage already.  Why insert yourself into the equation?  He only did it on that one pitch, and I think it was more about being a goofy kid than disrespecting the game, but I'm fairly certain that if he kept doing it and struck out that he would figure out that it's a bad idea.

[johnnyg08 1,654]

If that game isn't LL and on National Television, the pitcher will fix that stance with one pitch. 

[agdz59 26]

57 minutes ago, grayhawk said:

So he's putting himself and his team at a disadvantage already.  Why insert yourself into the equation?

Because he's disrespecting the game.  Who knows - maybe they all knew it was coming and everyone had a good laugh.  If so, fine.

[The Man in Blue 234]

What if it was a tribute to somebody back home?  He didn’t continue to do it, so it was obviously not something for an advantage.

 

[yawetag 726]

10 hours ago, agdz59 said:

Unless a TD or UIC tells me otherwise I'm using my judgement and calling that a mockery or unsportsmanlike, take your pick.  You aren't taking the game seriously from that stance.  No way in hell you can hit anything from there - it's the definition of mockery.

Enquiring minds want to know: How would you have ruled when Eddie Gaedel came to bat?

[agdz59 26]

3 hours ago, yawetag said:

Enquiring minds want to know: How would you have ruled when Eddie Gaedel came to bat?

Good question!  I thought about that.  Eddie took his stance like he should and there was a strike zone.  This kid probably had a negative strike zone - his knees were above his midsection.  I'd interpret that as an infinte strike zone!