Catcher

[Guest Tokashi]

There are two questions:

• What happens if the catcher doesn't catch the pitch? Is it a passed ball although he did not touch the ball at all? What if is a legal pitch or a ball?
• What is the new rule, when there is a wild pitch or a passed ball, any pitch, not only on third strike, the batter can try to steal first base?

[mac266]

10 hours ago, Guest Tokashi said:

There are two questions:

• What is the new rule, when there is a wild pitch or a passed ball, any pitch, not only on third strike, the batter can try to steal first base?

This is not a new rule in any rule book.  MLB has discussed implementing this in the future, but it is NOT in the rulebook.  Secondly, you need to know that there are many different rulebooks in baseball.  What MLB does is not necessarily what your league does.  Definitions change, interpretations change even more, etc.  

Most common rulebooks:  Official Baseball Rules (OBR), NCAA, Little League, and National Federation of High Schools (NFHS).  Sometimes the differences between the rulebooks are subtle, other times they are HUUUUUUGE.  

Example:  In NFHS, a balk is an immediate dead ball, and the pitch is not counted.  So if you call a balk while the pitcher is in his delivery, he delivers the pitch, and the pitch anyway, and the batter hits a homerun, the play is killed and the homerun doesn't count.  The ball was dead prior to the hit.  In NCAA or OBR, a balk is a delayed dead ball, so the homerun would count.

[maven]

1. The official scorer (not the umpire) judges whether F2 could have caught or stopped the pitch with ordinary effort. If so, passed ball; if not, wild pitch. Umpires generally pay no attention to the scoring rule (I don't teach it at all to new umpires).
2. New rule? Never heard of it.

[beerguy55]

4 hours ago, Guest Tokashi said:

There are two questions:

• What happens if the catcher doesn't catch the pitch? Is it a passed ball although he did not touch the ball at all? What if is a legal pitch or a ball?
• What is the new rule, when there is a wild pitch or a passed ball, any pitch, not only on third strike, the batter can try to steal first base?

The "new rule" is not official anywhere at this time, I believe.  A few years ago it was tested in the Atlantic Minor League - on any uncaught pitch the batter could attempt to "steal" first...but they risked getting out....after seeing the usage in that league MLB opted not to pursue it any further.  It's entirely possible some recreation leagues have adopted it, but I can't fathom why they would.

Passed ball/wild pitch is entirely the judgment of the scorekeeper - if they think the catcher should have caught it, it's a passed ball.  As well, this only matters if a runner advances on the play...it's used to account for their advancement.  If no runner advances there can be no PB/WP.  If any runner attempting to advance is thrown out there is also no PB/WP.

[Guest Tyson]

It a catcher does not good the ball is a passed ball, but if he does not a ball at all I think is ever a passed ball so not a dead ball ?

[noumpere]

26 minutes ago, Guest Tyson said:

It a catcher does not good the ball is a passed ball, but if he does not a ball at all I think is ever a passed ball so not a dead ball ?

"Passed ball" and "dead ball" are completely different topics -- not opposite sides of the same coin.  A passed ball can become a dead ball, or not.  A ball that becomes dead can be a passed ball, or not.  An umpire doesn't care whether the ball is a passed ball or not; he does care (and rule on) a ball that becomes dead.

[Guest Tyson]

1 hour ago, noumpere said:

"Passed ball" and "dead ball" are completely different topics -- not opposite sides of the same coin.  A passed ball can become a dead ball, or not.  A ball that becomes dead can be a passed ball, or not.  An umpire doesn't care whether the ball is a passed ball or not; he does care (and rule on) a ball that becomes dead.

Yes, I know. I mean if the catcher does not hold the ball is a passed ball but if the catcher does not touch a pitch at all, is it a passed ball? 

[beerguy55]

10 minutes ago, Guest Tyson said:

Yes, I know. I mean if the catcher does not hold the ball is a passed ball but if the catcher does not touch a pitch at all, is it a passed ball? 

Not relevant to whether or not the catcher touched it...it may be a passed ball, it may not.

If a runner advanced due to an uncaught pitch it's either a passed ball or a wild pitch.  By scorekeeper's judgment, that is determined by whether or not the pitch should have been caught/blocked....or if it was too difficult to do so.   

If no runner advances, or if any runner is thrown out trying to advance, there is no passed ball or wild pitch.

[noumpere]

13 minutes ago, Guest Tyson said:

Yes, I know. I mean if the catcher does not hold the ball is a passed ball but if the catcher does not touch a pitch at all, is it a passed ball? 

If you are the catcher's parent, it's a wild pitch; if you are the pitcher's parent, it's a passed ball.  If you're the parent of anyone else on defense, it's the coach's fault for not putting your son (or daughter) in as F1 or F2.  If you're the parent of anyone on offense, it's a stolen base.

 

If you're an umpire you don't care.