"He broke his wrists", "The bat went past the front of the plate."=
;
Many people believe those two statements are written in the rules or are
written as official interpretations of a strike.
THEY ARE NOT.
A strike by definition is "a pitch=
that
is struck at by the batter and is missed." It is purely a judgment mad=
e by
the umpire as to whether the batter "struck at" the pitch. Breaki=
ng
the wrists or the bat moving beyond the front of the plate or the batter's
body, are factors that the umpire may use to make the judgment. Factors is =
all
they are; not definitions.
It is not automatically a strike when a
batter holds the bat over the plate preparing to bunt and does not pull it =
back
when the pitch goes by. The same judgment applies. Did the batter "str=
ike
at" the pitch?
It is not automatically a strike when a batter is ducking an inside pitch a=
nd
he spins around and the bat crosses the plate. The umpire must judge if he =
was
avoiding the pitch or striking at it.