What happens if batter bats out of order?

Answer 1

== == A magnitude of different scenarios exist for batting out of order, but I will try to give as simple and general of an answer as I can. I will break this down in to two parts, one for batting out of order and a pitch being thrown to the next batter, and one for no pitch having been thrown yet. If a pitch has been thrown to the player batting after the improper batter, everything stands: hit, walk, out, steal, anything. The only thing that could change is who is batting now. The person who SHOULD be batting now is whoever is listed after the improper batter in the lineup (assuming they have received a pitch).

So if you have batters 1,2,3,4,5, etc. #2 bats when #1 should have. He gets a hit. Batter #1 then comes to bat and takes a strike. Batting out of order is noticed. Batter #3 should be batting now because he is listed after batter #2. Batter #3 would assume whatever the count was that batter #1 had and bat in his place, then 4 then 5 and so on. If a pitch HAS NOT been thrown to the next batter after batting out of order, it gets tricky. Lets again assume batters 1,2,3,4,5, etc. #2 bats when #1 should have, and gets a hit, then batter #3 comes up, but the out of order is noticed before the pitch. Since #2 batted and #1 should have, #1 is called out, the runner is removed from the bases and the next spot in the order comes to bat, in the case, batter #2 will hit again. I would love to give a full breakdown but there are so many different scenarios and quirky tidbits that make this hard to explain, or understand for anybody. Just remember, If a pitch has not been thrown to the next batter, call the improper batter out, take away the plays that resulted from his actions (except for if he gets out, then its just a lineup modification) and get the batter in there who should be batting after the guy who SHOULD have batted in the first place. If a pitch HAS been thrown, just make sure you have the batter in the box who bats after the batter who went out of order.

Answer 2

the proper batter. Let's say batter 2 is supposed to be up but batter 3 bats instead. If the defensive team calls attention to the fact before he finishes his at bat - the batter 2 will bat and resume the count batter 3 had Now suppose batter 3 got a single and the defensive team called it to the umpires attention then batter 2 would be declared out and batter 3 would then bat again as he is thescheduled hitter. If the defensive team did not catch the batting out of order infraction before the first pitch to the next batter -which is batter 4- then batter 4 would be the legal batter