Once the batter has both feet in the batter’s box, the pitcher is free to pitch, right?
We’ll answer that question and more coming up next.
I have often heard people recite the so-called rule that once the batter is standing with
both feet in the batter’s box, the pitcher is free to deliver the ball.
If the batter isn’t ready, tough luck, right?
Actually, wrong.
At the end of this video I’ll cover ways coaches can deal with this situation, but
for now, the Rule for MLB and LL, 8.05 (e) states: It is an illegal pitch when the pitcher
makes a “quick pitch” Umpires will judge a quick pitch as one delivered before the
batter is reasonably set in the batter’s box.
In Little League, the penalty for delivering a quick pitch is to rule the pitch a ball.
See video description for exceptions and full details for Little League.
This CWS clip from 2017 shows a quick working pitcher, Brady Singer, delivering too soon
to the batter.
Here’s how it sounded.
That umpire may have yelled, “He’s not even in the box.”
But his actual meaning is that the batter is not reasonably set.
This is an umpire with MLB experience.
The pitcher didn’t have a ball charged to him because the umpire called time before
the pitch was delivered.
Almost all of the clips are going to be like this.
The pitcher is so quick to pitch that not even the network control room switches to
the camera on the pitcher in time.
The next clip from a 2015 Regional game is borderline, we don’t have the best camera
angle again, but the batter is clearly shocked to see the pitcher already into his delivery
once he looks up.
Pitcher’s should not start their motion if the batter’s not even looking yet.
The umpire does not award a ball to the pitcher, which technically he should have.
Calling it a no-pitch in this situation is not in the rules, but I have seen the same
thing even in MLB called this way.
Here the umpire is calling “no pitch” and in the next two the umpire is awarding
a “ball.”
Now we come to a game where we can talk about how to deal with fast working pitchers.
This pitcher has already pitched to two batters.
It appears that once he sees the catcher put the sign down, he starts his pitch.
It’s almost like he doesn’t see the batter and a stubborn dual ensues with this third
batter who has a longer than normal set-up; and, for a time we have a bit of a back and
forth and in this case, the batter is going to win this battle.
The best thing in this situation is for the catcher to talk with his pitcher which we see him do.
Don’t let too many pitches go by and allow frustration to set in.
Furthermore, the catcher can help by delaying his giving of the sign.
The pitcher’s rhythm, in this case, isn’t really tied to the batter, but the catcher.
By holding off on the sign while the batter get’s set, the catcher helps maintain the
pitcher’s rhythm for this at bat.
Catchers need to understand their pitchers and work behind the plate in a way that supports
how they want to work.
This catcher did start holding off on giving the sign for the remainder of this inning
and after that mound visit, the whole problem went away.
Are teams stealing your catcher’s pitch signs?
Check out this video on how to easily protect your signs from opposing teams.