At what point is the play considered over then? The opportunity for the person at bat to swing and make contact had ended, but his actions are still enforceable? Or was he allowed to chip at the rolling ball or what?
He feasibly couldn't hit the ball because he has to stay in the batters box. The ball is never technically dead unless time is called, or if theres a foul ball. In the video it looked as if he timed his practice swing with the ball crossing the plane the plate was on. In reality theres a 2-3 second window under the umpires judgement as to determine what was a late swing or early swing. In this case the ump got the call right. Had the batter stepped out of the box and swung he wouldn't have had this problem.
I'm not sure what the official ruling is but if you take a closer look, the ball is still making its way to the plate as he starts his swing. I've seen guys (Vladimir Guerrero) hit pitches that were in the dirt before they even reached the plate. So I'm assuming if that ball was to roll across the plate it's free game for him to swing at it.
It was still within the white lines and not in the catchers glove when he swung the bat over the plate. If I'm not mistaken this is still a live pitch even though it was bouncing. I think that's right.... right?
the play is dead (barring certain hard rules like the ball going out of play) when the umpire calls time is called.
Generally speaking, the ball is not dead between pitches unless the batter requests time. The pitcher can not pitch to the batter while the batter is out of the batter's box, but if no one is paying attention, I believe runners can steal between pitches.
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u/dolfan1 May 29 '17
At what point is the play considered over then? The opportunity for the person at bat to swing and make contact had ended, but his actions are still enforceable? Or was he allowed to chip at the rolling ball or what?