Are the hands part of the bat?
The hands are part of the batter in every rulebook, so a pitch off the hands without a swing gets him first. If he swung, it's a strike, and a pitch off the bat, knob included, is a batted ball.
Every season, someone in the stands yells “Hands are part of the bat!” It usually happens on an inside fastball. The batter pulls his hands back, and it gets him on the knuckles. He drops the bat and grabs his hand, and the other dugout wants a foul ball.
The hands aren’t part of the bat, and they never were. They’re part of the batter in every rulebook. A pitch that hits his hand is a pitch that hit him. What happens next depends on one thing: Was he swinging?
If he wasn’t swinging, it’s a hit by pitch. The ball is dead and he takes first, the same as if it hit his elbow or his hip. The usual two exceptions still apply. If the pitch was in the strike zone, it’s a strike. If he didn’t try to get out of the way, it’s a ball and he stays in the box (I cover those here).
If he was swinging, it’s a strike. The ball is dead, runners go back and he doesn’t get a base. But that has nothing to do with his hands being part of the bat. He swung, and a pitch that hits the batter mid-swing is a strike wherever it hits him. With two strikes, he’s out.
If the pitch hits the bat, now it’s a batted ball, whether he swung or not. The knob counts, and so does the handle. If it goes foul, it’s a foul ball. If it dribbles fair, it’s fair — and he’d better run! A pitch that hits the bat is never a hit by pitch, and it’s never dead just for touching wood.
What if it hits both? The umpire rules on what it touched first. Hand first is a hit by pitch, and bat first is a batted ball. He’s watching the batter’s hands and the ball’s path. He’s also listening, because wood and knuckles make different sounds. When no one can tell and the batter wasn’t swinging, most umpires give him the base. Umpires tend to do that out of habit, though, and you won’t find it in the book. Don’t count on it.
No one really knows where the myth came from, but it’s been yelled at every level for a hundred years. My guess is that a batter got hit on the hands while swinging and the umpire correctly called a strike. Someone in the stands invented a reason, and it stuck because it sounds like a rule.
The best fix starts with our hitters. Pull the hands back and turn in, because the pitch that finds the knuckles is usually the one they didn’t move on. And if you can get the parents in your section to stop yelling it, even better.
Which rulebook? Official Baseball Rules 5.05(b)(2): a batter touched by a pitch he isn't swinging at is awarded first. The definition of a strike covers a pitch that touches the batter as he swings. Nothing in the pro book, NFHS or Little League says the hands are part of the bat, and Little League's own umpire education names it as a myth. A pitch that hits the bat is a batted ball under the fair and foul ball definitions.
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.
“Ask anyone who yells 'Hands are part of the bat!' to show you the rule, and watch him look.”
Overthrow out of play: one base or two?
A pitch or a pickoff from the rubber that goes out of play is one base. A fielder's throw out of play is two, and where you count from depends on who threw it and when.
“When the throw ends up in the dugout, look at the pitcher. Was he still on the rubber?”
Can a batter hit a pitch that bounces first?
Yes. The rulebook doesn't care how a pitch gets to the plate, so if he hits it, it's a batted ball like any other, and if he swings and misses, it's a strike.
“I don't want my hitters chasing pitches in the dirt. But if he hits one fair, he'd better be running!”
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Ten questions, two minutes. Would you have gotten the call right?
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