By Staff
Coaching Management, 9.1, February 2001, http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/cm/cm0901/bbncaapitch.htm
Like the NFHS, the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee, at its July 2000 meeting, also approved a new rule relating to pitching motion, which is aimed at forcing pitchers to stop all motion in the set position. Rule 9-1-b(2) will read: “The pitcher shall deliver the pitch from the set position only after coming to a complete stop with his entire body.”
In the last issue of Coaching Management, we covered the changes relating to bat standards made by the NCAA Baseball Rules Committee at its July 2000 meeting. In other rules changes approved, the committee:
• Added wording to clarify the rule relating to batters being hit by a pitched ball: “When a batter makes no attempt to avoid being hit by a pitch (or attempts to be hit by a pitch), the ball is dead and the pitch shall be called a ball or strike.” The committee took this action in response to the increasing number of batters who are attempting to be hit in order to reach first base.
• Changed wording concerning offensive interference. The rule will now read: “No offensive team member either in or out of the lineup shall deliberately physically or verbally hinder, confuse, or impede any defensive player who is attempting to make a play.”
• Clarified the designated-hitter rule concerning that player becoming a position player later in the game. If a pitcher-designated hitter is replaced as a pitcher in a nine-player lineup, the P/DH may “remain as a DH and bat only in the DH spot. If remaining a DH, the individual or a subsequent DH cannot enter the game in any other capacity; i.e., as the pitcher, defensive player, or pinch-runner,” with “as the pitcher” added as the clarifying language.
• Altered the 12-run rule, decreasing the number of runs to 10. If teams mutually consent or a conference rule is in place, a game may be stopped—and ruled complete—after only seven innings if one team is leading by as many as 10 runs. Each team must play an equal number of innings, however.
• Allowed National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics rules to be used when teams play on an NAIA member institution’s home field.
• Added an approved ruling to the slide rule: “When the base runner slides beyond the base, but does not (1) make contact with, or (2) alter the play of the defensive player, interference will still be called.”
The rules committee also voted to allow fielder’s gloves other than leather to be used in play, and recommended that bat handlers (bat boys and girls) wear helmets. The committee also selected the set position, batter’s-box rule, designated-hitter rule, positions of the offensive team, obstruction, and strike zone as points of emphasis for the next season.