A Truly Epic Matchup
I’ll start by just asking you to watch this video, of Staten Island Yankee pitcher Pat Venditte as he faces off against Astros prospect Ralph Henriquez. As a brief preface, I will leave you with this: Henriquez is a switch-hitter and Venditte is a switch-pitcher! Yes, you read that correctly. Take a look at this epic matchup:
The crowd absolutely ate this up, the announcers seemed utterly befuddled, and Henriquez/Venditte literally looked like they wanted to fight each other after a bit. Equally interesting is whether or not the umpire made the correct call or not. Initial discussions at Baseball Think Factory discussed how the NAPBL—National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues—rulebook calls for the pitcher to first make a decision as to his handedness; afterwards, the batter can switch sides until he has two strikes.
Another take on the situation, apparently from a different NAPBL rulebook, says that the batter and pitcher can each switch places one time during the plate appearance.
Pete Abraham, at the Lohud Yankees Blog, asked veteran umpire Charlie Reliford about the situation to which Reliford replied the only rule is that, once the pitcher is on the mound, the batter cannot switch sides.
So, in summation, assuming Charlie Reliford is not senile or incompetent, major league baseball will literally have to change its rulebook should Pat Venditte ever make it to the show.
charles sledge said,
June 21, 2008 @ 6:17 pm
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charles sledge said,
June 21, 2008 @ 6:18 pm
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Matt Garrett said,
June 21, 2008 @ 8:28 pm
Rule 6.06 (b) states that “A batter is out for illegal action when- … [h]e steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch”.
So, “Time” would need to be called before the hitter could change handedness during any individual pitch (which the umpire should not grant - see Rule 6.02).
After each pitch, however, the batter could reasonably move to the other box but the pitcher would have the advantage of reacting to this.
The flip side to this would be Rule 8.04: “When the bases are unoccupied, the pitcher shall deliver the ball to the batter within 12 seconds after he receives the ball. Each time the pitcher delays the game by violating this rule, the umpire shall call “Ball.”
The 12-second timing starts when the pitcher is in possession of the ball and the batter is in the box, alert to the pitcher. The timing stops when the pitcher releases the ball.”
So, when the ball is returned to the pitcher the batter should take his place in a batter’s box and the pitcher should then deliver the ball. The batter should not change which box he is in but the pitcher may switch his glove around and get his matchup of choice, provided he does it all within 12 seconds. Rinse and repeat.