Home Keeping scoreGreat Britain Baseball Scorers AssociationYou Are the Scorer You Are the Scorer: Number 2

You Are the Scorer: Number 2

by Joe Gray

YouAreScorer


Scenario:
It is the bottom of the ninth inning in a tied game and the #8 hitter just drew a two-out walk to load the bases. Instead of the #9 hitter coming up to bat next, though, the #1 hitter strides over to the plate and gets ready to receive the first pitch.

As the official scorer, what should you do about the team batting out of order?

A – Immediately notify the manager of the fielding side.
B – Immediately notify the manager of the batting side.
C - Immediately notify the umpire-in-chief.
D – Keep quiet.

Highlight the text below to reveal the answer:

Answer: D – Keep quiet.

Rule 10.01(b)(4) states:
The official scorer shall not call the attention of any umpire or of any member of either team to the fact that a player is batting out of turn.

You may also like

5 comments

Dean November 15, 2008 - 12:44 am

So its up to the umpire to notice that the team is batting out of order?

Reply
Joe Gray November 15, 2008 - 9:18 am

Like leaving the base too early on a sacrifice fly play, it is an appeal play, meaning that it is up to the fielding team to bring it to the attention of the umpires, even if the umpires are aware of it.

See Rule 6.07 here for more details. Many people assume that the punishment for being caught batting out of turn is heavy, but the truth is that there are limited circumstances in which the batting team will be punished in any way.

Reply
Chico November 15, 2008 - 4:32 pm

It is amazing how few times this infraction happens. I have been around the game my whole life and only seen it happen a few times. Obviously, at the small youth level it happens more, but it is generally overlooked by the umpires and they let the correct kids bat. One of the reasons it rarely happens is because players simply know where they are in the batting order and at the youth level good coaches always let everyone know who is coming up at the bginning of their time at bat.

Reply
Ron November 17, 2008 - 10:22 pm

It’s not up to the umpire to bring it up either. It has to be raised by the other team. No complaint, no penalty.

Takes the onus off of the umpire. What if, in one case the umpire notices it before the pitch, and then later, with the other team up, noticies it after the pitch.

Which changes the action taken by the umpire.

If the other team doesn’t notice it, then nothing happens.

Reply
BaseballGB » Blog Archive » Weekly Hit Ground Ball: Lineup cards May 24, 2009 - 11:00 am

[…] A similar situation was covered in our Friday lunchtime feature, ‘You Are the Scorer’, back in […]

Reply

Leave a Reply to Dean Cancel Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.