Switch hitters

Factual Questions
1

2 Questions
Is a switch hitter allowed to change sides of the plate during an at bat?
and, 2, when the managers give the roster to the umps at the beginning of the game, must it state how so and so will hit today, or is it not known by the opposing team until so and so goes up to the plate.

2

I am certain that the manager doesn’t tell the umpire how the batter will bat. They will typically swith depending on whether they are facing a righty or a lefty.

I am fairly sure that a batter can switch in the middle of an at bat if they care to do so.

Haj

3

  1. A batter can switch sides as long as the pitcher is not ready to pitch. If the pitcher is ready, a strike is called.

  2. No. You don’t have to indicate how the batter plans to hit, but switch hitters nearly always bat right against lefthanders and lefty against righthanders.

4

I don’t know if it’s an MLB rule, but pick up whiffleball rules say you can’t switch sides once you have 2 strikes on you.

A couple of years ago, in a softball league I’m in, there was a cocky right hander who had already hit 2 monsterous homers in the game in his first two at bats. Being cocky, for his third at bat, he came up left handed. He swung and missed terribly at the first pitch he saw, then attempted to switch back to right handed. That move was protested, and upheld by the umpire, stating that he started his at bat lefty, and couldn’t switch. The second pitch he saw as a lefty, he only hit about 450 feet.

I guess the moral of that story is don’t piss off the batter. Let him hit from whatever side he wants to no matter the count.

5

Any chance on a printed cite for that rule?

I’m gonna guess that he hit it about 375 ft or so. Based on http://216.239.39.100/search?q=cache:JrCPV4W24yYC:www.batreviews.com/DeMarini2001DoublewallDistance.html+“softball”+distance+“home+run”+distance&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

6

Linkie no work.

Haj

7

http://www.batreviews.com/DeMarini2001DoublewallDistance.html

8

Samclem

  1. No. We were kids. It was an agreed upon, unwritten neighborhood rule. YNPUWBGRMV. We never once considered that this rule would come under review 25 years later. Damn our lack of foresight…
  2. Whatever. The point was that it was crushed (figuratively… it means he hit it really, really far). Going forward, we will keep detailed measurements in case I have an anecdote I’d like to share in the future.

:rolleyes: