On Deck Batter Safety

[Titans Baseball]

We're having a debate here in Washington State amongst some of the Select leagues at various age groups about the On-Deck batter.

Most leagues and umpires seem to be holding onto the notion that you need to be on deck in front of your own dugout no matter what.

As you all know, field sizes are completely inconsistent and in many cases, your on deck guy might be only 15 feet from the batters box -- and depending on the hitter, he may be staring him right in the face. Given that we head a player in one of our local leagues (16u) that just last last week had his orbital bone and jaw crushed by a 200 pound kid fouling off an 85mph fastball right into his face ... the debate has heated up here. Personally, I've had a dozen really close calls over the years.

Where does everyone stand? I feel like if we were playing in ballparks that had ample room, the purist mentality would be fine. However, that's not the case, and we coaches are charged with the safety of our players, so in an unsafe situation, we have the option to not have an on deck batter at all or to refuse to play under those rules.

I'm more interested in your stance on the issue rather than whether or not you'd put an on-deck batter out there. Curious to see if there is enough common sense out there to force the hands of people like USSSA, Triple Crown, High School, etc into putting safety first on this issue. I think that far outweighs the possibility that a 14 year old kid gives a rip about what you guys are talking about in the dugout!

Coach JOhn

[ralanprod]

I was there for this one...http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?co...58895&c_id=mlb

... and that was on a big field.

[JCincy]

If it's not a safe distance, I keep my kids in the dugout.

Our 'home' field has a fenced in on deck area as part of the dugout.

[UAME]

We don't have a choice - Dixie Youth rules mandate that the on-deck batter warm up to the batter's back (unless there is a protective screen partition.) I've never seen a kid come close to getting hurt in this position.

[Coach C]

Same @ 12u at our park. Never the batters front side.

[HeinekenMan]

I believe the batters should stay in the dugout or be in a fenced on-deck area. Our Little League park has an area created for this express purpose. I do not understand the Dixie approach. They allow kids to stand out there taking swings. Yet they make the base coaches wear helmets. You might think that no kid is going to foul off a pitch that will travel behind him. I thought the same thing. When I was a kid, a lefty had a jumbo wiffle ball bat and was hitting rocks in the road. He pulled one behind him, and it hit me in the eye. I needed surgery to reattach a torn retina.

[DerekD]

I believe the batters should stay in the dugout or be in a fenced on-deck area. Our Little League park has an area created for this express purpose. I do not understand the Dixie approach. They allow kids to stand out there taking swings. Yet they make the base coaches wear helmets. You might think that no kid is going to foul off a pitch that will travel behind him. I thought the same thing. When I was a kid, a lefty had a jumbo wiffle ball bat and was hitting rocks in the road. He pulled one behind him, and it hit me in the eye. I needed surgery to reattach a torn retina.

Just fyi, Little League does not allow an on deck batter at all. It does not matter if a dedicated area exists. At the beginning of each half inning, the first batter may be outside of the dugout with a bat.

[HeinekenMan]

Just fyi, Little League does not allow an on deck batter at all. It does not matter if a dedicated area exists. At the beginning of each half inning, the first batter may be outside of the dugout with a bat.

I've never heard any umpire complain. It's kind of ridiculous that they do not allow it. Timing is so difficult for kids at that age, and you often have pitching changes where the speed can fluctuate by as much as 25 mph.

[rodnok1]

I love the idea of on deck batter, but the fact is 50% of the kids don't pay attention to the batter when they are on deck. So I'm good with LL rule myself.
I did get hit with a bat standing in dugout opening from an on field on deck batter... He later got thrown out of the game because he could not hold onto the bat and it went winging when he was at bat.(opposing team player)

[tg643]

In USSSA in PA if the umpires felt the on deck circle was too close to play they required on deck hitters to be behind the current hitter regardless of which side it might be. Once showcase ball started at sixteen all the fields were big enough to use the dugout's on deck circle. On smaller facility used for scout league had caged in on deck circles attached to the dugout. My son's high school had the on deck behind the fence next to the dugout.