Just love bunt interpretations....

[lvtwft]

Since we are on the topic of bunts(previous post)...2-2 count. One of my slappers was swinging, her hands were apart a little (hand to two hand lengths), fouled off the ball. The umpire made the call she was out because her hands were apart when she made contact and having them apart constituted a bunt attemept..
I asked him to ask the home plate ump to see if she came to the same decision....and yes she did...
They stated that is how they determine if it is an attempt...There was a swinging motion, but yet she tried to bunt the ball??? This was either ASA or IFA....

OK, any reason rhyme or meaning to this...?

[Bretman]

OK, any reason rhyme or meaning to this...?

None that I can figure out.

As a practical matter, on most bunt attempts the batter will have the hands separated on the bat. But there is no rule, POE, guideline or interpretation that I'm aware of that flat out says, "If the hands are separated, then it is automatically a bunt attempt".

Whether an offer at a pitch qualifies as a bunt attempt is up to umpire judgment. You just hope that the judgment is based on some real-world ruling or definition, not some imaginary guideline that the umpire dreamed up.

[Bretman]

An amazing and little known fact...

All of Ty Cobb's 4,189 base hits in Major League Baseball were BUNTS!

[lvtwft]

Thats funny..
I however used Ty in my argument...But the ump did not think baseball and softball had the same correlation when it came to that specific rule...
It was not a key point in the game, and did not want to drag the UIC into the fray. Then get the wrath of the UMPS for the rest of it...

[GIMNEPIWO]

It would seem the Umpires were mistaken on their ruling, however ... suppose that your slapper did not break her wrists*,( with her hands seperated or together )and 'offered' at the pitch fouling it off ... because you call her a slapper, it does not make what she is doing a slap ... JMO

* I know you said she was swinging, just playing devils advocate

[Coach11]

Since we are on the topic of bunts(previous post)...2-2 count. One of my slappers was swinging, her hands were apart a little (hand to two hand lengths), fouled off the ball. The umpire made the call she was out because her hands were apart when she made contact and having them apart constituted a bunt attemept..
I asked him to ask the home plate ump to see if she came to the same decision....and yes she did...
They stated that is how they determine if it is an attempt...There was a swinging motion, but yet she tried to bunt the ball??? This was either ASA or IFA....

OK, any reason rhyme or meaning to this...?

My #2 batter, also a slapper, got called for the same thing last season. Kinda hard to argue it, as it is a judgement call, but after our at bats, I spoke to the ump on my way back to the dugout. I reminded him that she had two swinging strikes on her when she "allegedly" bunted at strike three. More of a goose to make him recognize he was probably wrong on the call should the situation present itself again, later in the game.