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.
A pitch doesn’t have to reach the batter in the air for him to swing at it. The rulebook says so directly, in the comment under its definition of a ball: if the batter hits a pitch that bounced, what follows is the same as if he’d hit it in the air.
Picture a curveball that skips up out of the dirt and into the zone. Your hitter golfs it into left field. It’s a hit. The other coach can yell “You can’t hit a bounced pitch!” all he wants.
Hit it fair and it’s a fair ball (so run!). Hit it foul and it’s a foul ball. Swing and miss, and it’s a strike, the same as any other pitch.
Why do people think otherwise? Because a bounced pitch can’t be a called strike, and they run the two together. If the batter leaves the bat on his shoulder, the umpire can’t call it a strike. But the batter can do whatever he wants with it. (The called-strike side of it is in this card.)
A swing and miss on a bounced pitch for strike three is a dropped third strike, no matter how cleanly the catcher gloves it.
That’s because a bounced pitch can’t be legally caught by the catcher. The batter can run if first is open or there are two outs. (The dropped third strike rule is here.) This is the one that really costs teams. A batter strikes out on a ball in the dirt. The catcher holds it up, and everyone walks away — including the batter, who should have been running.
Should he swing at it? I wouldn’t want my hitters swinging at pitches in the dirt very often. But a two-strike curveball that bounces and hops into the zone is going to get swung at by a 12-year-old. And when he barrels it, it counts.
So teach your hitters the other half, too. On strike three in the dirt, they run, and we let the umpire sort out whether they had the right.
Which rulebook? Official Baseball Rules, Definitions of Terms, 'Ball,' and its Comment: a pitch that touches the ground before the plate is a ball if the batter doesn't swing, and if he hits it, what follows is the same as if he had hit it in flight. NFHS and Little League read the same way. The one thing a bounced pitch can't be is a called strike, and that's a separate card.
A two-strike curveball bounces in front of the plate and skips up into the zone. The batter golfs it into left field. The other coach wants it called back. Does the hit count?
Still have a question? Ask Coach Fungo.
“I don't want my hitters chasing pitches in the dirt. But if he hits one fair, he'd better be running!”
Does the pitcher have to step off to throw to a base?
No. From the rubber, he can throw to an occupied base as long as he steps toward it first. Once he steps off, he's a fielder, and the pickoff balk rules don't apply to him.
“Once he steps off the rubber, he can fake to first all he wants.”
Malicious contact rule in youth baseball
There's no must-slide rule in youth baseball, but there are must-avoid rules, and I'd make sure every runner knows them. Run over a fielder and you're out, and in most rulebooks you're ejected too.
“I don't care what you saw on TV. Don't ever lower a shoulder into a fielder.”
The rules quiz
Ten questions, two minutes. Would you have gotten the call right?
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