foul tip - why ?

[HankC]

what is the philosophy , or need , for signalling a foul tip ?

the batter swung , the catcher caught , the ball is live .

why a special signal ?

[maven]

Tradition. 

And maybe because everyone heard something, and the signal tells them what it was.

Tim C. used to intone that it's the most useless signal in baseball.

[noumpere]

I agree with Tim C.

 

The signal can be useful when it's not obvious to everyone (e.g., batter checks swing, or pulls back a bunt, or tries to get out of the way of a pitch), but 99% of the time it's meaningless.

[SeeingEyeDog]

As a practical matter...the mechanic is useless. As the OP said, the batter swung, the catcher caught the pitch and the ball is live.

However...(there's always a however)...

There is umpiring and there is the credibility of umpiring. By using that foul tip mechanic, you are letting the players, coaches and spectators know that what you saw and what you are calling specifically...is a foul tip. As the kids say today...it's a flex. We are establishing credibility. We are "on the ball".

Next I would add, it's a good habit to insure good communication. You have a pitch that comes off the bat and is moving downward. The 13U catcher catches the pitch and then takes his mitt into the ground. Is it a catch...is it a trap? Are you Admiral Ackbar? What do you have, Blue?

If you have a catch, then we give the foul tip mechanic and put a strike on the count...and everyone knows it's a live ball and runners can advance at their own peril. (Then again...it's 13U. Maybe they won't know it's live but, you've communicated that it is.) If however, you do NOT have a catch? Then that's also an opportunity for us to shine and you can come up HEY-UGE there and call, "FOUL! FOUL!" which of course again, no one but the umpires might know that this means the ball is dead and the runners may NOT advance.

If you use the mechanic on ALL foul tips, you don't have to decide if one was close enough or not to merit the mechanic.

~Dawg

[JSam21]

Because any other ball that is struck by the bat and caught while in flight is an out. This is showing that the batter isn't out since it was sharp and direct to the catcher (or the glove/hand depending on rule set).

[The Man in Blue]

11 hours ago, SeeingEyeDog said:

Is it a catch...is it a trap? Are you Admiral Ackbar? What do you have, Blue?

 

Just because I am a Star Wars geek and offer my students extra credit if they can hide an image or a reference in their work ... Blue Admiral Ackbar (actually, Admiral Raddus).