Follow-Ups to Answer from Expert Mike Fortunato

---

BretMan wrote at 2008-05-03 04:02:07
This is one of the many documented "conflicts" in the baseball rule books. For many years, even the top interpretors at the two professional baseball umpire schools had issued differing opinions.



The instructors at the Joe Brinkman school were teaching that a bounced pitch could not be caught for a foul tip. Meanwhile, the Jim Evans school said that it could.



Major League Baseball has since adopted the Evans ruling, and even the instructor who was teaching it the other way has since relented.



The basis for this ruling is that the instant the pitch contacts the bat, it is a legally batted ball. From that point, all of the rules covering a batted ball would apply.



The current interpretation is that a bounced pitch CAN be caught for a foul tip. While not specifically addressed in the rule book, this point is now taught at the professional umpire schools and is in the interpretive books issued to Major League umpires.

---

David wrote at 2008-05-11 16:13:28
The batter is out. It does not matter what the ball does before it crosses the plate. If the batter swings, then it is the same as any other pitch.  If the catcher caught the foul tip cleanly and it was the third strike, then the batter is out.

---

Popper wrote at 2008-07-01 15:20:20
If the pitch touches the ground before reaching the batter, it can no longer be legally caught and therefore cannot be a foul tip; if the batter then swings and nicks that ball with his bat, it would be an ordinary foul ball and not a foul tip, even if held by the catcher.





This come straight from Wikipedia.

---

NickJRoss wrote at 2009-03-08 01:19:20
The rule, as I interpret and enforce, makes the batter out since the ball hit the ground before, not after contact. If the ball is to hit the ground after contact, it is a foul ball regardless if the catcher fields it cleanly or not.



I had an altercation today with a coach where I stood firm on my call regarding a similar scenario only the batter didn't foul tip it. It was a swinging third strike in the dirt where the catcher cleanly picked it. The coach screamed at his player to run while I confirmed the call with the base ump. It was not a "dropped third strike". The catcher caught the ball, therefore the batter is out.

---