I was a little embarrassed not to be able to explain to one of my kids what the standards are for an umpire’s judging if a batter’s swing has been checked or not. AFAIK there are no rules defining a swing, but it seems unlikely that there was never even an advisory from the Commissioner’s Office for their use.
What criterion does an umpire use? The bat barrel crossing the plate, the wrists bending, control of the bat head? I’ve heard a number of announcers claim with some certainty in their voices that each of those is the standard, but I doubt it. Can such a critical area really be so subjective?
The rule is the barrel of the bat crossing the plate. This is not a vague area; the rules explicitely say that a swing is when the barrel of the bat crosses the plate
If your rules explicitly define a swing, then you’re looking at a different book than I am. All the Official Baseball Rules say about it is that a “strike” is a pitch “struck at” by the batter, and missed. No definition of what constitutes “struck at”.
But the guidelines I’ve been giving in my umpire training, as regards to ruling on a check swing from a position as a base umpire, is that if you saw the end of the bat from 1st base, it’s a strike.
And deb2, the location of the strike zone is irrelevant in judging a swinging strike.
Yes, sorry I was unclear. By “crosses the plate” I should have said “FULLY crosses the plate, not just touches it.” Since this is hard for a homeplate ump to see often, you have the right to appeal to one of the base umpires (only if the pitch would be a ball if the batter did not swing). It’s usually better to appeal and make sure than try to guess.
It is not strike zone, it is where the strike zone is determined as being judged. When the ball cross the front edge of the plate is where it should be determined if it is a strike or ball.
Deb, you’re right; but you’re missing my point. The strike zone definition is used to define called strikes. It has nothing to do with swinging strikes. As Colibri’s site correctly points out, there is no definition of a swinging strike.
gentlemen (jsc1953 & Colibri) you are missing the point of the op. He wants to be able to sit at the ballgame and tell his kid how an umpire calls the play of when a player has successfully checked his swing or struck at the ball.
The OP wants to know what is the umpire’s criteria for determining whether or not the batter swung. The answer: his own best judgment. There’s nothing in the rulebook. “Can it really be that subjective?” Yes.
The OP said, “AFAIK there are no rules defining a swing.” The replies of both poogas21 and you seemed to indicate that there were.
poogas21 said “The rule is . . .” implying that there was actually something in the baseball rules about it. Your own reply immediately after contradicted him, saying “Actually it [the rule, presumably] is . . .”, also implying there was a rule.
This is incorrect, which is what I was responding to.
You answers were also incorrect concerning the strike zone.
Colibri you must be really “fun” to go to a game with. I was trying to answer the question which was how to describe a swinging strike to a child. I apologize for misinterpreting the question that is obviously a baseball debate that has no answer. My bad.
Deb, if the rule leaves the determination completely up to the umpires judgement, then that’s what the kids need to know. Telling them it’s a broken wrist or breaking a particular plane only invites them to argue with the umpire, using a nonexistant rule as backup.
Now… if anyone is an umpire, or has received umpire training, then we can better understand how umpires decide.
jsc gave us an idea of what the base umpires are looking for, the end of the bat. We still don’t have data from a plate umpire on what criteria they use.
Yes, but both of your answers were wrong. The front edge of the plate is NOT where the pitch is determined to be a ball or a strike, and there is no rule that says a swing is a swing if the barrel crosses the front of the plate.
A perfect example of a swing that would not cross the front edge of the plate is an obviously attempted but missed bunt. The pitch is lower than you expect and you stab down and miss. That’s a strike, even if the barrel doesn’t cross the plane of the front of the plate.
Um, deb, I hate to break this to you, but we’re not actually at a baseball game, we’re in GQ at the Straight Dope. The object here is to answer the questions accurately, not respond off the top of your head and then pout when you’re corrected on it.
In any case, although the OP mentioned trying to explain to one of his kids what the criteria for a swinging strike was, the actual questions he asked were:
This isn’t a “baseball debate that has no answer,” the answer is that the decision is subjective, and there are no official, written rules.
PS. It’s not necessarily trivial to misinform a child of what the rules are, if they try to use that information when playing Little League or in high school.
A strike is, at rock bottom, what the umpire calls a strike; a ball, what he calls a ball. There are explicit definitions and guidelines to aid him in making such calls – but his decision (subject to appeal to another umpire who may have had a better perspective on the particular series of events) is final. Ergo, a called or swinging strike is one which the umpire calls that; a checked swing is what the umpire calls that – and the base umpire’s call as to whether the axis of the bat crosses the base line in question is one of the standard guidelines for him making that call when appealed to.
An umpire is expected to exercise unbiased judgment in making such judgment calls, so that a checked swing by the visitors in the top of the third is called identically to a checked swing by the home team in the bottom of the fifth.