Posted by: Dennis (dpweydemuller@yahoo.com) on Sun Jul 12 06:13:03 2009

General discussion:

Can anyone justify the 'unwritten rule' favoring a batter not to swing on a 3-0 count? It seems to me that with blood, sweat and tears the batter has put himself in a favorable position in the count. He obviously isn't swinging at junk.. why then would he not swing on a 3-0 count SHOULD that pitch be down the middle for a strike? It has become almost a blasphemous act in baseball to swing at a 3-0 pitch no matter if there are runners on base or not. Are we 'hitmen' or 'walkmen'. Many times have I seen a batter with 2 outs and runners on take on a 3-0 pitch for a strike. He then swings on the next for a foul back, the finds himself in a pitchers count swinging and missing entirely. Next, same situation with my power hitter up. Takes on a 3-0 for a strike down the middle. Next pitch puts him on for a BB. Next batter then flies out ending the inning.... One would have expected the power hitter to knock in runs, but took the BB....
Any thoughts on this subject.....3-0 trueism or fallacy.... not particularly in the situation as described above, but in general... do we make this a 'written rule'?????