Courtesy runner rules for pitchers and catchers
Who can run for your pitcher or catcher -- the last batted out, a sub, or no one at all -- depends on your rulebook. In my experience, it's the most common lineup-card mistake in youth baseball.
Your catcher walks to lead off the inning, and you’d like to get him back in his gear. Can you run for him?
It depends on your rulebook, and as coaches, we get this wrong every weekend. Here are the four versions you’re likely to see…
Major League rules have no courtesy runners at all. If you want someone else to run, it’s a substitution. Your catcher is out of the game.
High school is the most specific. A courtesy runner can run for the pitcher or the catcher at any time, with no restrictions on outs. He has to be someone who isn’t in the lineup. But the same player can’t run for BOTH the pitcher and the catcher in a game. Once he runs for one, he’s that one’s runner.
USSSA and most travel tournaments allow one for the pitcher or catcher. USSSA’s order is an eligible sub first, and the last batted out only if you don’t have one — which is most travel teams, because they bat the whole roster and have no bench.
Little League has two different rules here, and it’s important not to mix them up. The “special pinch runner” can be used once per inning for any player, he has to come from the bench, and a player can only be run for that way once a game. The courtesy runner is separate: A league can adopt one for the pitcher or catcher with two outs, simply to speed things up, and the tournament rules provide for one as well.
Get it wrong, and the penalty can be anything from “fix it” to an out to the runner being ineligible.
How do the leagues and tournaments you play in handle courtesy runners? Have you ever been burned by a version you didn’t know about?
Which rulebook? Official Baseball Rules have no courtesy runner. NFHS 3-1-2(b): a courtesy runner may run for the pitcher or catcher at any time, must be a player not in the lineup, and one player can't run for both. USSSA 7.04.B.1: courtesy runner for the pitcher or catcher, an eligible substitute first and the last batted out only if there isn't one. Little League 7.14(a): a 'special pinch runner' from the bench may be used once per inning for any player, and a player may be run for that way only once a game. Little League 7.14(b): a locally adopted courtesy runner for the pitcher and/or catcher with two outs, and tournament rule 3(d) provides for courtesy runners.
Inside fastball. The batter isn’t swinging, tries to get out of the way, and the pitch hits him on the hands. It never touches the bat. What’s the call?
Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.
“Before the first pitch, ask the umpire whether you get courtesy runners and who's allowed to be one.”
Is a foul bunt with two strikes an out?
A bunt fouled off with two strikes is strike three, the same as a swing and miss -- and it doesn't matter that no one caught it.
“Before you flash the bunt at 0-2, make sure your hitter knows a foul ball is strike three.”
Stolen base or wild pitch?
If the runner was going before the pitch, I'm giving him the stolen base. The wild pitch or passed ball only goes in the book if he takes an extra base because the ball got away, or if another runner moves up.
“Give that runner the steal. He was going before the ball ever got away.”
The rules quiz
Ten questions, two minutes. Would you have gotten the call right?
New cards land on Instagram and Threads first. Follow along there.
Be the first to comment