Comments on: Ambidextrous Pitcher vs. Switch Hitter = Chaos

By: Gabriel

Gabriel — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 17:55:29 +0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3455201

Apparently, there is not such a rule- or at least, neither ESPN nor the executive director of the Professional Baseball Umpire Corporation are aware of it. That rule does exist in the MVC, which I’m assuming is where the pitcher played college ball, but MLB is still working on their response.

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 14:29:41 +0000

There actually is a rule for this. The pitcher must declare which side he will pitch from prior to the batter deciding from which side he will hit. The pitcher must also use that same throwing hand for the entire at bat.

By: Psion

Psion — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:07 +0000

That’s the solution I came up with watching it just now … but I have the benefit of years of GM-ing role-playing games, so I’m used to making rules up on the fly.

By: Eric Crampton

Eric Crampton — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 23:47:18 +0000

Easy solution: Umpire asks each separately which way they plan on playing, where neither knows what the other says, then holds each of them to it. No?

By: Jonathan Hohensee

Jonathan Hohensee — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:18:09 +0000

I only find sports bloopers funny if Yankity Sax is playing in the background.

By: ctyri

ctyri — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:58:07 +0000

Crazy stuff. Don’t get Specter started…

By: Jaisn

Jaisn — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 06:26:26 +0000

Larry,

Hilarious.

Also, the pitcher REALLY had an itch.

By: Larry

Larry — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 03:48:21 +0000

I’m writing my Congressmen to demand hearings.

By: Alex

Alex — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 21:06:30 +0000

We were talking about this last night, and, to my surprise, it’s not unprecedented.
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=Greg_Harris_1955

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:44:03 +0000

Hunter,

I get it. I meant because he K’d on 4 pitches, 2 of them looking.

By: KBCraig

KBCraig — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 18:10:25 +0000

My grandfather played semi-pro baseball and was totally ambidextrous. I never heard of this situation before, though!

That glove is crazy.

By: Hunter

Hunter — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 17:10:19 +0000

@Greg N.

Certainly you were making a joke, but I’ll offer the explanation.

Switch hitting is relatively common compared to pitching with both arms. It is advantageous to hit from the opposite side of the plate than the pitcher throwing, because it turns out that it’s easier to hit a curveball or slider that’s curving toward you rather than away from you.

The only rule that really governs that situation is that the hitter may not make a mockery of the game by switching sides over and over. It doesn’t really comment on what the pitcher may do, though ultimately, the umpire may adjudicate any situation not covered in the rulebook as he sees fit. Thus, at some point, the umpire stopped the hitter from switching sides while the pitcher was allowed to continue.

By: Greg N.

Greg N. — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 16:04:18 +0000

Maybe he should have hit left-handed.

By: David Z

David Z — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:35:09 +0000

bizarre!

I’ve never seen or heard of anything like that, either.