Player Positioning Rules in Baseball - NFHS Edition 

How would you handle the explanation to a coach ( with the cathers box clearly defined as such in a turf field ) if both catchers feet are outside the lines and the coach wants an illegal pitch?

Hey Patrick: So in the event the defense elects to have their F1 throw 4 'balls' to their F2 to purposely walk a batter, is that the only time I'm going to watch that F2 stays in the catchers box until F1 releases each pitch or just not enforce that as well?

I really wish the NFHS had more input on their baseball rules committee. Football has 1 person per state. Baseball has 8 for the whole country.

Great information? I must say I do appreciate your videos but I do not agree with your statements in this case. "Focus on your balls & strikes & not where the catcher is standing" is extremely poor advice, especially if you're a HP Umpire.The catcher's box is there for a reason other than intentional walks - what about the safety of the home plate umpire? You're throwing the safety of the plate umpire to the wind! This scenario is surfacing up more and more in games now w. turf fields having the catcher's box outlined. I can not reconcile with your thinking & advice here if there is a catcher's box outlined or not? A catcher setting up 6" outside of the catcher's box (normally for an extended outside corner target) is not only giving a target to his pitcher that is outside of the strike zone; but it's placing a Home Plate Umpire at risk of getting injured with a possible concussion, especially if a pitcher is continually missing his outside targets w. inside pitches by 17-21"+ . I have done HS ball & 13U+ travel tournaments with a catcher who is setting up 4-8" outside of the catcher's box & the pitcher then throwing a pitch inside leaving me completely exposed, with a pitcher completely missing his target by over 17"+ ! The catcher's box is outlined for several reasons other than what was throwing pitches for an intentional walk, including placing a dead ball back in play, in addition to the overall safety of the home plate umpire - which appears to have been completely overlooked here in this video! Going forward, I sincerely hope NFHS takes a much stronger emphasis on the positioning of the catcher in the catcher's box going forward at time of pitch, adding yet another reason why no one wants to umpire baseball anymore.

Thanks for the videos, I use them for our local baseball meetings. Very good and informative.

Say you're on a turf field; catcher's box is clearly marked. You're ignoring the catcher's balk, but a head coach starts "verbally encouraging" you to call it. Technically, he's right. What do you do?

In case 1 where F9 cuts behind F3 and has both feet in foul territory and receives the pick off throw, wouldn't it depend on where F9 is and they receive the attempt because if it's not at the base, my understanding is that this is still a balk as the attempt was not at the base but to a player

The whole "catcher's box" situation is why it is just as important to delete superfluous rules as it is to write new ones as the game evolves. Just reading the rule on its' own made me think it carried the same penalty as the "fielder in foul territory" situation. On a related historical note, my dad played a game as a teenager where an umpire called a catcher's balk to bring in the winning run and end a game. And yes, it was on an intentional walk. The catcher left the field in tears and my dad told me he had never felt more anger towards an umpire for a call that benefited his team than that afternoon.

Thanks for the videos. This is a great learning tool. Houston County association

Patrick, you can hardly blame an umpire for answering an NFHS RULES test according to the NFHS RULES, even if he doesn't actually enforce them as written. sure, I know the test doesn't actually matter, but getting 63% on a rules test just irks me... I'm a rules guy dammit!

Good job!

Thanks much. Great information.

In your first case play, with F9 is in foul territory on a pick-off. You mention time of pitch being the determining factor for a violation. Rule 2-28-3 states the time of pitch for the set position occurs the instant the pitcher after coming to a complete and discernable stop, starts any movement with arm(s) and/or leg(s) that commits the pitcher to pitch. Can you elaborate

How is the catcher’s box important with regards to squeeze plays and steals of home on a pitch?

What if batter hits home run on illegal pitch? You ignoring the violation or is it an immediate dead ball?

SITUATION: R3. No outs. Left-handed batter at the plate. [FED rules] PLAY: As the pitcher begins his wind-up, R3 makes a break for the plate. The catcher, seeing this, steps completely out of the catcher's box in the direction of 3rd base. The pitcher delivers the ball to the catcher who is about 6 feet up the line towards 3rd and easily tags the runner out. It appeared the batter was going to attempt to bunt in order to execute a squeeze play. RULING? CONSIDERATIONS: Did the defense obtain any advantage by the catcher *not* being in the catcher's box? Even if there was no catcher's box drawn on the ground, it was completely obvious that he was not in the catcher's box.

PENALTY: (Arts. 1, 2, 3): The ball is dead immediately when an illegal pitch occurs. If there is no runner, a ball is awarded the batter. If there is a runner, such illegal act is a balk. In both situations, the umpire signals dead ball. How can you ignore just the catcher’s foot placement part of the rule? More importantly, how do answer a coach who asks, “ sir, the rule states their catcher needs to have both feet in his catchers box at the time of pitch”. ? Other than the snarky “ coach, do want me to track the pitch or watch the catcher’s feet.?”

In regards to the rule about all players having at least 1 foot in fair territory, the instruction from my HS association is that the only purpose for this is to prevent the defense from doing silly, non-baseball things like positioning a player clearly in foul territory, not to police the exact position of F3's feet while holding a runner at 1B. If we're in a 2-man crew, no one is looking at F3's feet pre-pitch anyway, we can't police what we can't see. In a 3- or 4-man crew, U1 should simply instruct F3 to get at least 1 foot on the line if he really wants to setup that way; the ONLY reason to call a balk here is if F3 refuses to comply and a pitch is delivered. We do NOT call a balk if we just happen to notice F3's feet in foul territory at time of pitch. If the 1B coach starts fussing about it, then it's "sorry coach, didn't see it, my attention was on the pitcher"; then you tell F3 to go ahead and get one foot touching the line while rolling your eyes in the direction of Coach Karen.