With playoff baseball in full swing, players and managers will do just about anything to lead their team to victory. I'm curious to know what the baseball community thinks about this idea.
Let's pretend that your team is in Game 7 of the World Series. Your team is down by 1 run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning. There are 2 outs and the batter is sitting on a 3-0 count. You're rooting for the pitcher to throw "Ball 4" to walk in the tying run. Hence, you'd want your hitter to "take" because it would be foolish to swing on a 3-0 count in this situation.
This seems like a no-brainer, right? Of course the batter is going to "take". But what if the batter could increase his chances of drawing a walk? Wouldn't that be something. Instead of just standing there with the bat on his shoulder, what if the batter crouched down as low as he could to minimize the strike-zone?
According to MLB, Rule 2.00 (1): The Strike Zone "The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball."
Would this be seen as unsportsmanlike play? Disrespectful to the other team, pitcher, or baseball itself? Or could this possibly be a flaw in the rules that teams could exploit. Would you want your team to use this tactic in this scenario? Could this tactic be used for ANY 3-0 count? What do you think baseball fans?
Sources:
1. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/rules_interest.jsp
Let's pretend that your team is in Game 7 of the World Series. Your team is down by 1 run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the 9th inning. There are 2 outs and the batter is sitting on a 3-0 count. You're rooting for the pitcher to throw "Ball 4" to walk in the tying run. Hence, you'd want your hitter to "take" because it would be foolish to swing on a 3-0 count in this situation.
This seems like a no-brainer, right? Of course the batter is going to "take". But what if the batter could increase his chances of drawing a walk? Wouldn't that be something. Instead of just standing there with the bat on his shoulder, what if the batter crouched down as low as he could to minimize the strike-zone?
According to MLB, Rule 2.00 (1): The Strike Zone "The STRIKE ZONE is that area over home plate the upper limit of which is a horizontal line at the midpoint between the top of the shoulders and the top of the uniform pants, and the lower level is a line at the hollow beneath the kneecap. The Strike Zone shall be determined from the batter's stance as the batter is prepared to swing at a pitched ball."
Would this be seen as unsportsmanlike play? Disrespectful to the other team, pitcher, or baseball itself? Or could this possibly be a flaw in the rules that teams could exploit. Would you want your team to use this tactic in this scenario? Could this tactic be used for ANY 3-0 count? What do you think baseball fans?
Sources:
1. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/umpires/rules_interest.jsp