{"id":176,"date":"2015-07-05T17:37:13","date_gmt":"2015-07-06T00:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.umpirebible.com\/ubBlog\/?p=176"},"modified":"2016-12-24T15:35:29","modified_gmt":"2016-12-24T23:35:29","slug":"batting-out-of-order","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.umpirebible.com\/ubBlog\/archives\/176","title":{"rendered":"Batting out of Order"},"content":{"rendered":"

There aren\u2019t very many baseball rules that are dealt with incorrectly more frequently than batting out of order. The applicable rule is Rule 6.03(b)<\/a><\/strong>, which was last revised (and clarified) in 1957. So it\u2019s been around for a while. (For an interesting read about the history and confusion surrounding this rule, see an article in the SABR Research Journal<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0entitled, fittingly enough, Batting Out-of-Turn Results in Great Confusion<\/a><\/strong>, written by Mark Pankin.)\"\"<\/p>\n

Sometimes the confusing comes from something as simple as an unannounced substitution<\/strong> (Rule 5.10(j)<\/a><\/strong>); nevertheless, the manager on defense comes storming out and wants an out on somebody (though he\u2019s not sure who). Or he comes out in the middle of the at-bat to challenge a batter, and again he wants an out. Or the coach on offense notices that he has the wrong player at bat and freezes because he\u2019s afraid to call attention to it (fearing he\u2019ll get an out), but equally afraid that if he doesn\u2019t do something about it the sky will fall. Or worst of all, you\u2019re the plate umpire and everyone agrees there has been a batting-order infraction, and now everyone is looking at you to fix it, but nobody has appealed it yet, so there’s absolutely nothing to do.<\/p>\n

The rule, penalties, and remedies for batting out of order are really not that difficult master, once you catch onto the logic. In fact, the only really tricky thing about batting out of order is knowing how to fix it once a successful appeal has been\u00a0made. The plate umpire owns this one since the plate umpire owns the lineup.<\/p>\n

Before going\u00a0any farther, let\u2019s be clear about two terms that are essential when discussing batting out of order: proper batter<\/strong><\/em> and improper batter<\/strong><\/em>. These two are important because when verifying and untangling a batting-order appeal, the only two players\u00a0that matter are the batter presently at bat and the previous batter. We\u2019ll see why soon enough.<\/p>\n