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Tuesday, April 12, 2011
What is a checked swing?
The MLB rule book is not a well-written rule book (pdf). I was not aware that the definition of a swing is not in the rule book (article by umpire).
Charlie Reliford: The check swing is probably the most misunderstood rule. Many of the problems occur when language is added to the rule that is not in the rulebook. We often hear phrases such as, “the batter broke his wrist,” “the bat crossed the plate,” “the bat crossed the foul line,” “the bat crossed the batter’s front leg,” and many others. None of these are definitions or phrases from the rulebook. While any of these acts may constitute a swing on one occasion, it is possible to demonstrate any of these acts in a fashion that would not be ruled a swing. An umpire’s job is to enforce the rule as written; quite simply, did he swing? There is no definition or description of a check swing or half-swing in the rulebook. From the Official Baseball Rules:
A STRIKE is a legal pitch when so called by the umpire, which—(a) Is struck at by the batter and is missed;
Can you believe that the word “struck at” and “swung at” can be used interchangeably here? The common definition of “strike” is to actually have contact. But in the definition of a strike, we all know that then intent here is to swing at the pitch, regardless of you make contact. So, why not use “swing and miss”? Why would they use “strike and miss”?
Back to Reliford’s point: there’s no definition of what constitutes a “strike and miss”. Reliford doesn’t help us here in the article in trying to figure out what an umpire is actually looking for. He’s telling us that you can’t just do what we do at home, by looking at whether the bat does this or that. So, it becomes a decision akin to pornography.
Now, I can understand why they can’t just say “crossed the plate”, because, frankly, if you need slow-motion replay to figure that out, how the heck can you burden the umpire 100 feet away with that decision?
But, some attempt to define a swing should be in the rule book.
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