the baseball "flop"?

watching the fullerton-irvine game and watching hitters trying to turn into the ball and intentionally get hbp reminds me of how the "flop" in college basketball has ruined the game, anytime an offensive player goes near a defensive player the defensive guy just falls down and has more often than not gets the charge called. the basketball refs seem to have wised up and do not call it as much as they did a few years ago and that's good. in the game last night the irvine player turned into the pitch that appeared to be over the plate and the ump gave him his base. there's a high school in our conference that has done this for years but the umps now rarely give the batter his base. the coach argues of course but the rule book says tha a player must attempt to get out of the way.i'd love to see this out of the game as it is just bush imo. any thoughts?

 

Wake Forest has made a habit of this. They have to. Team BA was .272. They got hit something like 156 times this year. In the ACC tourney a WF player turned in to a pitch and the ump WOULD NOT give him first. And he called the pitch a ball.

 

too much

there were 8 hbp in the Irvine/ Fullerton 13-inning game. one batter got 3 hbp alone.

 

Easy

I am sure that getting hit 156 times is not the intent of the team. Hey, 85 to 90 hurts a little. I think if an umpire see this and it is in his judgement that a player or as you put it a team is crowding the plate. Maybe he should warn them. But there that gives the outside corner away to the pitcher. Hard call. That is a good stat you have. Now how does it fair with the rest of the ACC.

 

It led not only the ACC but the NCAA. sure it hurts but how many times have you told your own son to take that curve ball when the team needs a baserunner?

 

wood

wooden bats would solve all this, but don't think that will happen any time soon.

 

You

Have to get it over. Pitcher needs more control. In my son's case. He understands that its about the battle. If a pitcher has the outside he is going to get up there and go the other way. One can say he will take one for the team.
He has yet to go to drama class!!!

 

old school

Bob Gibson knew how to pitch to both sides of the plate. When the batter takes away the inside pitch by crowding the dish it starts a process that ends with pitches 6 inches off the outside being called strikes. This leads to strikeouts on balls that can't be hit!
Two things that could be done to fix all this. First, take away all the armour the batters wear. Second, call the strike zone as the rule book defines it, an inch or two off the plate can be reasonable but 6-12 inches is a joke.
I have noticed during the CWS that when Carrigan comes in the oposing batters don't hang over the plate as much. 95 mph will leave a mark!
I'd love to see an ump, not only keep a batter at the plate, but also call the pitch a strike. The batter's coach would probably go ballistic!

 

Here is the problem

Metal Bats! Hitters crowd the plate to take away the outside strike. They can turn on 90 plus with a metal bat. And by crowding the plate they turn the pitch on the outside black to a pitch on the outer half or middle of the plate. When pitchers come inside and catch plate these guys can turn on it with metal. When guys come in off the plate they just stand there and take their base when they get hit. Wood bats would change the game back to the way it should be played. You can get in on a kids hands with metal and they can fist it off for a HR. With wood you get splinters and outs. And some stinging fingers to go along with it. You better have some good movement of your stuff to pitch inside at the college level. And you better be able to miss out of the zone and hit your spots when you do. But as long as these guys are swinging metal they are going to continue to take away the inside part of the plate. Hitters are so much stronger and better today. They are swinging bats that cheat the game. They have too much of an advantage imo at the collge level. Wood bats would be great for the college game. And for me it should be wood at the HS level as well.

 

One thing for young pitchers - No matter if you hit 5 batters in one game, keep throwing inside. If you can pitch on the inside or outside part of the plate and locate your pitches, you will be very successful. Just dont be afraid to go inside or afraid to hit someone. REMEMBER thats your plate, not the hitters.

And also, if you hit one of them, dont try to be mister nice guy or apologize, try to make them think you did it on purpose.

Hitting batters for me has helped me out actually. Because the next time he comes up to the plate he is worried about the inside pitch and he backs off the plate and opens up the outside corner. Once you hit some spots out there he starts looking for pitches on the outside corner and then you bust him in and record another strikeout for yourself.