by UmpSteve » Thu May 15, 2014 8:42 am
For the most part, all but NCAA rules have nothing to do with the batter's box. It is still a pitch, and it is still a hitter; the basic rules regarding HBP do NOT change because someone is a slapper. And we have addressed those multiple times in multiple places on this board, I believe.
The batter runner forward (toward the pitcher) is a batting style, not an excuse fore the pitch hitting the batter. The general rule everywhere is that if the batter would have been hit by the pitch if she didn't move, then her moving has nothing to do with the HBP. Moving into the ball, meaning moving toward the plate to be hit should not be an awarded base. If the ruleset (you didn't say which) requires the batter to make an effort to avoid, the slapper has the same obligation; if NFHS, she doesn't have to, so rule the same as if she was standing still.
The issue is that not only should umpires call dead ball strikes on a pitch in the strike zone, the umpires should also BY RULE call dead ball strikes if the batter keeps the ball from being a strike (getting hit before it reaches the plate and maybe could have been a strike if it reached). The NCAA exception is that if the batter is completely out of the batter's box in front, they call it a dead ball and no pitch; neither a ball or a strike, and no awarded base, just a bruise. Their theory is that the umpire cannot judge if it would or wouldn't be a strike before it reaches the plate, so even if three feet from the plate into the batter's box, the slapper out the front gets a bruise, but not a pitch.