Walk Rule

[mattbat]

hello,

in the youth softball league i coach, there is a walk rule where once the pitcher throws 4 balls, there is no walk, but instead, the coach pitches a maximum of 2 pitches when the batter has 0 or 1 strikes, and a max of 1 when the batter has 2 strikes. is there any way you can add this to an update??? it throws off the pitch count and the balls and the strikes for the stats when i print them out...i like the rule but could you add this on? Thank you!!!! by the way this is an awesome app!!!! and 1 last thing, i know a lot of people have asked this, but could you add the mlb rosters to this app? Thank you!!!!!

[FTMSupport]

Unfortunately it is hard to find a "standard" for these types of rules. If there was just one "coach pitch" rule, it would be easy enough to add, but we have heard many versions of this, and it makes it very difficult to account for them all.

4 balls = walk, 3 strikes = strikeouts are straight from the rules of baseball, and applies to the vast majority of leagues.

We know there is a standard in slow pitch softball that seems very universal that you start with 1 ball and 1 strike. This seems very well known in all slow pitch softball leagues, so is likely something we will add as the rule is well documented.

Beyond that, local rules really make it tricky. We have on our list of future enhancements to create a way to allow users to set up parameters for what constitutes an at-bat, but it seems every day we hear about a new rule. We even had a customer asking how to account for a "machine pitch" league where machines pitch balls after a certain inning, or some such rule.


As for the MLB rosters, we are seriously considering adding it. We have had many customers request it, and have looked around the marketplace. Every product that offers this kind of functionality sells it as an add-on feature. If we were to add it, we would have to do the same as it costs quite a bit of money to get this kind of data.

Thank you.

[rahrcj]

I have not purchased the app, but it looks very nice. If I were to purchase it, I like to see some sort of "coach pitch" feature added.

In our league, 4 balls = coach pitch until the batter strikes out or puts the ball into play.

I could see the app working like this...

Enter ball 4.
dialog asks walk or CP (coach pitch)
I don't see a need to record how many pitches a coach pitches; something simple that the CP does not add to the pitch count of the current pitcher.

On the scorebook, I would like to see a notation that the strikeout or hit was on coach pitch. If a kid hits a triple off the coach, statistically, it is a triple in the books so nothing special would be needed there.

[FTMSupport]

We will add this to our enhancements list for a future release. Thank you.

[Rhinorobbo]

We have a similar situation in some of our junior leagues (live ball for U10) where four balls brings out a tee instead of a walk ... we then have a rule that says a safe hit of the tee (to put the ball into play) means only one base although all other runners are at risk.

I have provided below the rule from our league ...

If a batter receives four balls from the pitcher, the batter will be given one swing at the ball on a Tee. A missed swing or a foul will be counted as a strikeout and the ball is dead and other runners remain. The batter must hit the ball and move it from the tee by a full and forceful swing of the bat. The bat must go through 180° arc for it to be a swing resulting in a hit. The ball must travel at least as far as the pitching distance unless the ball is fielded by the defensive team – failure to do so will result in the batter being called out. The batter is limited to a maximum advance of one base at their own risk. Runners on base remain tagged on base until the hit and are not limited to a one base advance. If a thrown ball passes over the dead ball line, the runner is only entitled to the base they were advancing to.

[deanhoyt]

The way I score this is that it stops at Ball 3.
Then I score the result of the at bat.
It does throw off the pitch count, but by one ball for each batter, but they are not charged for the walk.

It would be nice to add a comment to an at bat, like "Coach Pitch".
Or for later, on another thread, to possibly score it correctly (make a correction).

[jplevine]

Somewhat similarly, we are playing a rule this summer that if the bases are loaded, it takes 6 balls to walk in a run. Not sure how standard this is, but is there anyway to incorporate something like that in the app? What I did was stop at 3 balls and if they got to 6, I would enter the 4th ball for a walk. The problem is that it makes the pitch count off by 2 each time that happens (or if the batter hits the ball after 4 or 5 balls, similarly messes up the pitch count).

[FTMSupport]

This is the first we have heard of a rule like this from a customer, but we will add it to our list as well for prioritization and see what we can come up with.

Thank you.

[xbl]

My son plays in a league where it takes 5 balls for a walk.

I'd appreciate a parameter where we could specify the number of balls for a walk and the number of strikes for an out.

[FTMSupport]

We have it on the list for a future enhancement. Thank you.