Expert: Martin Hoover - 9/8/2008

Question
Right handed batter goes into bunt position. Pitcher throws the ball, batter realizes the pitch is going to hit him, Spins forward with right side of body going toward the pitcher, gets plugged on the left arm. Is he intitled to1st base or is it strike 2?

Answer
Frank,

The only way this will be considered a strike is if the ball is in the strike zone when the batter gets hit.  From your description, it doesn't sound like it was, so we have to look at if the batter made an attempt to get out of the way of the pitch.

In this situation, it is up to the umpires judgement on if the batter attempted to get out of the way of the ball.  At a Little League level (and even high school level) it is difficult to tell if a player is moving to get out of the way, or to get hit (I say this as the umpire who is directly behind the batter).  In most cases, if the batter makes any movement that looks as if they are moving away (spinning would be one of the movements) then we award 1st base.

If the batter was making an attempt to hit the ball (in this case bunt) the umpire would have to take that into consideration as this might be called a strike (one again, very difficult judgement call).  In your situation, I would have to have been there to watch it.

I hope this has helped.  Should you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask!

-Martin Hoover