Batting out of order

Situation

The player who took the at-bat is not the player due up. Either no pitch has been thrown, the wrong batter is still up, or the defense has appealed after a pitch or a completed turn.

What happens on the field

• Before a pitch, or when the proper batter comes in with no appeal out: put the correct batter up. Nobody is out for the order itself.
• If the defense appeals and the umpire calls the proper batter out: that player is out. Runners do not move because of that out.
• If nobody appeals in time, the improper batter's turn can become legal. Score the play that happened. Do not add an extra out later.

How the book should look

• Appeal upheld: one out for batting out of order. It is not a strikeout and not a fielder's choice.
• No appeal: no batting-out-of-order out. Score the batted ball, walk, or strikeout that occurred.

A common miss is skipping the proper batter and also charging an out, or erasing a hit the umpire said still counts.

In DugoutDesk

1. No out: open the overflow menu and tap Skip batter. That moves to the next batter, does not record an out, and clears the count.
2. Appeal upheld: tap In play. The field scorer opens the ball-in-play contact sheet. Batting out of order is not on that sheet or on the contact result chips. It is on the result pad behind the sheet. That records the out and leaves runners where they are.
3. Protest: open the overflow menu and tap Note protest. That writes a note on the play log and does not change the count, the outs, or the bases.

The app will not undo a finished at-bat for you. If the umpire nullified a hit, undo or correct that play, then record the out. Pitch-by-pitch scoring is free. Hit spray does not apply to this out.

Ruleset notes

Who is out, which pitches count, and whether a completed hit comes off the book differ in USA Softball, USSSA, NFHS, Little League, PONY, and Babe Ruth.

Skip batter, Batting out of order, and Note protest are three different results. Pick the one that matches the umpire's call. This is not a rules certification.