Nick Tropeano made baseball history last night when he struck out a batter on one pitch. The Corpus Christ Hooks pitcher got a called strike on his first pitch and the batter didn’t like the call. He stepped out of the box, argued the call, and the ump rung him up for strikes 2 and 3 for refusing to get back in the box. Tropeano struck out nine other batters the old fashion way as the Hooks beat the Midland Rockhounds.

Here is the MLB rulebook’s explanation:

Rule 6.02 (c) If the batter refuses to take his position in the batter’s box during his time at bat, the umpire shall call a strike on the batter. The ball is dead, and no runners may advance. After the penalty, the batter may take his proper position and the regular ball and strike count shall continue. If the batter does not take his proper position before three strikes have been called, the batter shall be declared out

Comment: The umpire shall give the batter a reasonable opportunity to take his proper position in the batter’s box after the umpire has called a strike pursuant to Rule 6.02(c) and before the umpire calls a successive strike pursuant to Rule 6.02(c).

 

[LastAngryFan]