Expert: Andrew Senger - 4/13/2009

Question
I have seen a shifting of umpire calls on batters hit-by- pitch calls. In the last month, I have seen 3 calls made where the umpire ruled the batter did not make a sufficient attempt to move out of the way and were not awarded 1B. In one of the cases, I would agree. The batter did not move on a slow curve and was hit. On the two others, the batters turned their backs on slow inside curves and were hit as well but in the middle of their backs. I realize this is a judgment call but it seems to penalize the batter for not "reacting enough". Turning their backs to the pitcher is what I teach my batters when they are about to be hit. Now I do not know what to tell them since they were hit but were not awarded anything. I am just looking for some advice on this.

Answer
Julian,

In NFHS, the rule simply states that the batter must not "permit a pitched ball to touch him." (Rule 7-3-4) Many umpires have different meaning behind this rule, however. I, and most umpires, want to see some effort to get out the way if possible. For all three of your situations, the batter had a reasonable amount of time to avoid the pitch. However, if the pitch was an inside fastball, I would only expect minimal movement due to the time the batter has to move.

Turning their backs is the correct move to teach, especially for fastballs. However, if the umpire feels the batter had time to move from the pitch (which a slow curve gives), they could deny the trip to first base.