Expert: Brian Flaspohler - 6/9/2006

Question
Last night my son was playing in a game where the batter ducked to avoid a wild pitch. The ball struck the bat behind the batters head hitting only the bat,then fell infront of home plate. The catcher picked up the ball, tagging the batter who was then called out. Is the ball in this situation considered in play?

Answer
Martin,

The ruling was correct.  The ball hit the bat, landed in fair territory.  That's a fair ball!  Even if the batter didn't mean to do it at all.

You'll even see this on a rare occaision in the major leagues; such as when a batter is trying to avoid a bad pitch, but the bat gets in the way.  But I'm sure I've never seen the ball go fair after hitting a bat.

You've witnessed a once in a lifetime occurance!

Hope this helps!

Brian