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Tuesday, April 19, 2005 |
The Training Grounds
Stephen Smith's FutureAngels Blog ran stories on Sunday and Monday about an unusual incident occurring Sunday at the Angels' single-A minor league affiliate in Rancho Cucamonga. Down 4-2 in the tenth with two out and two strikes, Rancho batter Matt Brown stepped out of the batter's box. Umpire Russell Barrett then used his discretion to award a third strike. This is due to a rule change in minor league ball, new for 2005, that allows the umpire to keep the batter in the batter's box unless the batter asks permission first, thus hurrying the game along. According to a paragraph from the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette excerpted by Smith,
Pearly Gates recently pointed out a new Stingers blog, Stingers Geek. I'll be checking up on it periodically, and a sidebar link to come presently. Speaking of sidebar links, I've culled a few stale Dodgers links lately, not that anybody particularly cares, but just so you know.
Rule 6.02 (D) (1) requires a batter to keep one foot in the box throughout his at-bat, with exceptions. If the batter steps out and one of the exceptions does not apply, the umpire has the discretion to call an unthrown strike.What makes this extra weird is that Brown exited the box prior to the third strike call, and Barrett didn't call for the third strike immediately. Instead he waited until after Brown swung at the third pitch of the at bat, which went foul. Barrett declared it a strike, ending the game.Exceptions to the rule include the batter swinging at a pitch, a batter being forced out of the box by a pitch, time being granted to either team, a defensive player attempting a play on a runner at any base, the batter feinting a bunt, a wild pitch or passed ball, the pitcher leaving the mound after receiving a ball or the catcher leaving the box to give defensive signals.
Fortunately, they don't have this rule in the majors, though it might help the game's pace if they did. But it seems a trifle one-sided; if there's a penalty for stepping out of the batter's box, shouldn't there also be a penalty for throwing too many pickoff tosses? How about working too slow? (I'm talking to you, Bartolo Colon!) How about a pitch timer?
Pearly Gates recently pointed out a new Stingers blog, Stingers Geek. I'll be checking up on it periodically, and a sidebar link to come presently. Speaking of sidebar links, I've culled a few stale Dodgers links lately, not that anybody particularly cares, but just so you know.
Comments:
That's messed up. In what universe does the umpire get to make a call that essentially flips pitches? If he stepped out before the foul, call the strike there, and the foul is on strike two, and the batter is still up. He's basically saying that the foul is strike two, and the step-out, which happened before the foul, is strike three. That's BS.
Reminds me of a time I was coaching a pony team in a winter-league game. The other team was taking forever to send a batter to the plate, so the ump called out "Strike one!". I told our guy to go ahead and pitch if there was no batter because the ump wanted to get the game moving. My pitcher threw a pitch to no batter, and the ump called it a ball! So it's completely their fault that there's no batter, and if we don't throw a pitch, he'll call a strike, but if we play along and pitch, we run the risk of walking a batter who never stepped up to the plate. Crazy.
Reminds me of a time I was coaching a pony team in a winter-league game. The other team was taking forever to send a batter to the plate, so the ump called out "Strike one!". I told our guy to go ahead and pitch if there was no batter because the ump wanted to get the game moving. My pitcher threw a pitch to no batter, and the ump called it a ball! So it's completely their fault that there's no batter, and if we don't throw a pitch, he'll call a strike, but if we play along and pitch, we run the risk of walking a batter who never stepped up to the plate. Crazy.
OK maybe I'm misreading this. Was the count 1-1, or 0-2 when he stepped out? If it was 0-2, I guess the ump is saying that the foul just never happened. Still, watching the video shows that there was a check swing on the second pitch. Maybe Brown thought it was a strike because the ump thought he swung, which is one of the exceptions. Still, stupid call.
Or third possibility, and it sounds like this is the case from Stephen's blog: 0-2 count, the umpire instructs the batter to get in the box. He doesn't, the ump instructs the pitcher to pitch, and regardless of the outcome of the pitch, a strike will be called.
They said the way this works is that when the umpire decides to call an unthrown strike, he does so by instructing the pitcher to throw the ball.
So even if Brown had homered, it would have been strike three, and the game was over.
They said the way this works is that when the umpire decides to call an unthrown strike, he does so by instructing the pitcher to throw the ball.
So even if Brown had homered, it would have been strike three, and the game was over.
And I should say, it's ridiculous that the rule requires the pitcher to throw a pitch. If it's a strike, just call it a strike and walk off the field. They don't require the pitcher to throw a pitch when they call a ball when the pitcher goes to his mouth. Why on earth does the pitcher have to throw a pitch in that situation.
You could have a situation where a guy has two strikes, steps out, the umpire makes this call, instructs the pitcher to throw a pitch, and the batter hits a come from behind walk-off home run, all for naught because the pitch was a called strike before it left the pitcher's hand. Good luck getting out of that place alive if you're the ump.
Not to mention that using this rule for the third strike of the last out of the game is ludicrous to begin with.
Sorry for all the comments, Rob.
You could have a situation where a guy has two strikes, steps out, the umpire makes this call, instructs the pitcher to throw a pitch, and the batter hits a come from behind walk-off home run, all for naught because the pitch was a called strike before it left the pitcher's hand. Good luck getting out of that place alive if you're the ump.
Not to mention that using this rule for the third strike of the last out of the game is ludicrous to begin with.
Sorry for all the comments, Rob.
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