Delayed swinging strike

[spark2212]

Let’s say a pitch gets away from the catcher with two strikes, and the batter wants to swing at it and run to first. How late can the batter react to the wild pitch and swing before it doesn’t count as a strike?

[noumpere]

He has to swing at the pitch, in the umpire's judgment.  He can't just "swing."

[Rich Ives]

1 hour ago, noumpere said:

He has to swing at the pitch, in the umpire's judgment.  He can't just "swing."

Yes he can. It was occasional tactical weapon when getting an IBB back w hen pitches had to be thrown. And it's a strike unless it starts after the pitch has been caught or is past the catcher.  

[Senor Azul]

There is precious little written on this subject. I did, however, find the following play in a copy of Referee magazine dated November 2014—

Very Late Swing

Play: R1 is attempting to steal second. The pitch to B3 is in the dirt, so B3 does not swing immediately. However, once the ball is past him, B3 waves the bat at the ball. Ruling: lf the ball is clearly past, the batter cannot be charged with a strike. However, he can be charged with interference if he hinders F2's attempt to throw the ball (NFHS 7-3-5c; NCAA 7-11f; pro 6.03a-3).

***

George Demetriou wrote in the 2019-2020 College Baseball Rules Study Guide (p. 158) “there is no clear definition of when a pitch ends that can be applied in all situations…Although unwritten, a batter loses the right to swing at the pitch when it first passes the plate. Thus a pitch that touches the bat on the follow through or after deflecting off the catcher or umpire is not a batted ball. Likewise, if the batter is hit by such a deflected ball, it is not considered hit by pitch.”

2006 NFHS Baseball Interpretations SITUATION 15: With a runner on third attempting to steal home, the pitch bounces off the plate, hits the catcher’s chest protector and rebounds back in front of the plate in a nice soft arc. The batter, seeing the ball back in front of the plate, hits the ball for a soft fly ball that falls over the second baseman. The defensive coach argues that this is batter interference while the offensive coach counters that since the ball was still technically a pitch, the batter has the right to hit it. RULING: This is batter interference. If the play started with one out, the runner from third would be declared out. If the play started with two outs, the batter would be declared out. The batter has the legal right to strike the pitch as it comes across the home plate area. He no longer has the right to bat the ball once it has passed home plate and subsequently bounces or caroms off someone or something. (7-3-5c Penalty)

[ArchAngel72]

hmmmm..  I am having trouble with this as I do see at the LL levels kids clearly late swinging say after the ball has hit the catchers mitt. 

 

I mean thats at like 10u level and below.. 

Have not really seen that at the 12U level but interesting to see if a coach would push a kid to actually do this to try and earn an easy trip to 1st.

 

[Catch18]

hmmmm..  I am having trouble with this as I do see at the LL levels kids clearly late swinging say after the ball has hit the catchers mitt. 
 
I mean thats at like 10u level and below.. 
Have not really seen that at the 12U level but interesting to see if a coach would push a kid to actually do this to try and earn an easy trip to 1st.
 

And this is fine. That’s within the proper play of the game. We would use common sense and say that 9 y.o. is merely learning to hit pitching, trying their best, and not trying to skirt the rules.

In opposite-ville, I actually had this from an 18U hitter last week. Think Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn sailing one to the backstop 4 feet over my head. The batter actually looks back at the backstop, watches it hit, then takes a furtive 3/4 “swing” and sprints to 1B. We laughed, I internally called him an idiot, when he got back to the plate and gave me a ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, I told him to knock it off and get in there to hit.

Know the difference.

[ArchAngel72]

Sneaky smart to me and I am pretty sure I have seen it would be a player knowing that its an awful pitch and is going to be in the dirt takes a whiff at it and is charging down the base path even before the catcher gets a chance to block it.