Is it a foul ball if a bunt hits the batter?
If he's still in the box when the bunt hits him, it's a foul ball, and with two strikes that foul bunt is strike three. If he's out of the box and the ball is fair, he's out.
Where the batter is standing when the bunt hits him decides this one, not where the ball was going. Say the pitch is in on his hands, and the bunt goes straight down off his foot. Was he in the box or out of it?
If he’s still in the box, it’s a foul ball, and it’s dead. The runners go back, and he gets back in and hits. No one cares where the ball would have gone. A ball that hits the batter in the box is foul, whether it’s a bunt or a full swing.
But there’s a catch with two strikes. A foul bunt with two strikes is strike three, so a bunt off his own foot in the box, with two strikes, is an out. He’s out because it’s a foul bunt. Getting hit has nothing to do with it. That rule’s here.
Out of the box, it’s different. If the ball is fair, he’s out. That’s interference with his own batted ball, so it’s a dead ball, and runners go back to where they were at the pitch. The classic example is the batter who bunts and takes his first step, and the ball spins back off the plate and hits him on the way to first. If the ball is foul, it’s just a foul ball.
What counts as “in the box”? It’s the umpire’s judgment at the instant the ball touches him. A foot on the line is in. With both feet outside, he’s out of the box, even if it’s only one step. The chalk is usually gone by then, too (the same problem as the batter’s box rule), so the umpire is picturing where it was.
Where the ball goes only matters once he’s out of the box.
In the box, it’s foul no matter what. Out of the box, the ball has to be fair for him to be out, so a ball that hits him in foul territory is foul, and a ball that hits him on the fair side of the line is an out.
If the bunt is going to hit his foot at all, I’d much rather it happen while he’s still in the box!
Which rulebook? Official Baseball Rules 5.09(a)(7) and its comment: a batter hit by his own batted ball while still in the box is a foul ball, and one hit by a fair ball after leaving the box is out. 5.09(a)(4) makes a foul bunt on the third strike an out. NFHS and Little League read it the same way.
The batter bunts and takes his first step out of the box. The ball spins back off the plate and hits him in fair territory. What is it?
Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.
“Bunt it and run. The longer he stands there watching it, the more likely it finds his foot.”
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