Rules

The check swing: who makes the call, and who can ask

The call

There's no rule about wrists or the barrel -- whether the batter offered at it is the umpire's call. On a ball, the catcher or manager can ask him to check with his partner, but a strike can't be appealed.

Just about every coach and parent at the field has a rule in his head for the check swing. Did the wrists break? Did the barrel cross the plate? Did the bat go past his body?

None of those are written down anywhere. The rulebook says a strike is a pitch “struck at” by the batter. Whether he offered at it is the umpire’s judgment and nothing else. The wrists and the barrel are things umpires may use to help them decide — and things fans yell — but none of them are in the book.

Where we really get tangled up as coaches is on who gets to ask for help, and when.

Who can ask. Under pro rules (and in the travel ball that plays them), the catcher or the manager can ask the plate umpire to check with the base umpire. The plate umpire has to ask. He also has to go with what his partner says. No one else on the field gets to ask, including the first baseman yelling “Did he go?”

The appeal only runs in one direction.

If the plate umpire calls the check swing a strike, that’s the call. You can’t go to the base umpire to get it turned into a ball. It doesn’t matter how loudly the third base coach asks.

High school is a little different. The catcher or coach can still ask, but the plate umpire doesn’t have to check. He can if he’s unsure. Most do. Some won’t, and that’s within the rules.

With one umpire, it’s his call and it’s over. With two, the base umpire usually has the better angle on the swing. That’s why the plate umpire asks, and it’s why he lives with the answer.

If you coach catchers, make the ask a habit. When the plate umpire calls a half swing a ball, the catcher should point to the base umpire before the next pitch. About once a game, it turns into strike three.

Which rulebook? Official Baseball Rules 8.02(c) and its comment: on a half swing called a ball, the manager or catcher may ask the plate umpire to get help, and he must. NFHS 10-1-4a lets the plate umpire choose whether to ask. No rulebook defines a check swing. The only standard is whether the pitch was 'struck at.'

Would you have gotten this call right?

USSSA tournament, pro rules. Full count, and the batter checks his swing. The plate umpire calls ball four. Who can ask him to check with the base umpire?

Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.

Coach Fungo says

“You can yell 'He broke his wrists!' all you want, but you won't find it in any rulebook.”

— Coach Fungo

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