Baseball is one of the most famous sports in the world. There is no question that most children today aspire to be a baseball player in the future.
If your kid is new to it, he may find the rules of baseball difficult and confusing. So you must know the rules and share with him. In this article, we ‘re going to discuss the baseball rules for kids you need to know.
14 Mandatory Baseball Rules for Kids
1. Objective
To play baseball, each team requires 9 players. To win the game, your team have to score more runs against your opponent team. The opponent team have to put out 3 batters. Otherwise, the team will not be able to stay up for bat.
2. Playing area
Most people call the playing area like a baseball diamond. You may have seen the playing area of baseball consists of 4 bases, and a pitcher’s mound. There are also an infield and outfield area.
3. Positions of the players
Understanding the players’ position is very important. To help you know, I am providing the players’ position below.
- The 1st one is the pitcher—the pitcher on the pitcher’s mound.
- The catcher. The catcher behind the home plate.
- Then there will be three basemen. Serially the 1st baseman, then the 2nd baseman and the 3rd baseman.
- Shortstop. There will be a shortstop between the 2nd and the 3rd base.
- Leftfielder. The leftfield’s position is behind the 2nd base and 3rd base outfield,
- Centerfielder. The centerfielder’s position is behind the 2nd base outfield.
- Right fielder. The right fielder’s position is behind the 1st and 2nd base outfield.
These are the positions of baseball you must know.
4. Equipment
So, now let’s talk about the equipment to play baseball, which is very important. As you know, safety is the primary concern for kids, right? Each of the material is required to play baseball. Thefollowing list of equipment needs to play baseball.
- Baseball bats
- Baseball helmets
- Baseballs
- Baseball gloves
- Baseball bases
- Pitching rubber
- These are equipment you need to play baseball.
5. Starting play
To start the game the referee will toss. If your team wins the toss, you get to choose whether you want to bat or field on defence. Sometimes in a game, the visiting team will bat first, and the home team has to defend. The fielder team has to line up in their position, after that the batter steps into the batter box to hit the pitch.
6. Batting rule
There are two batting boxes in the play area. The batter can choose any of the two-batting boxes. The batter has to put both feet in the box.
The batter supposed to make runs once he hits the ball. He can hit the ball until he gets to hit the ball near the boundaries. If a batter misses 3 strikes in a row, next batter will come.
7. Strikes
There is a strike zone in the baseball game. If you are wondering where is the strike zone? The strike zone is in between the shoulder and knees of the batter. An umpire will call a strike according to the followings
- The batter should not fail to swing the bat at a pitch outside of the strike zone.
- It the batter swings the bat at a pitch outside of the strike zone then he should not miss the ball.
- If the batter swings the bat at a pitch outside of strike zone, then he must strike more than 2 hits against the fielding team.
- If the batter misses 3 strikes, that means it’s out. The next batter is going to step into the batting box.
- No batter should hit a foul ball. If the pitch is outside of the strike zone, the batter should not hit the pitch.
8. Ball counting
A ball is counted when the pitch is inside the strike zone. The batter is supposed to hit the pitch inside the strike zone, but if he misses for a pitch inside the strike zone, he has to change the position to the 1st base.
If he hit the balls outside of the strike zone, he is called for another strike. If you want to know about the origins of the ball used for the sport, you can read The History of the Baseball (the actual ball).
9. The Runner
While watching the game, you will see that the batter is also a runner. Right? Here are some rules for when the batter has to run.
- The batter becomes a runner when the batter hits a ball near the boundaries. He has to run towards the 1st base as soon as he hits the ball in fair territory.
- When he gets to hit 4 balls one after another
- If a pitch hits the batter
- If the catcher misses the 3rd strike
A baseball game can be played for 9 innings. Each inning is divided for each team. The top half is for the visiting team, and the bottom half is for the home team.
10. The Scoring System
Understanding scoring is essential. If your team scores more run against the opponent team, then your team wins. To be counted as a run, the runner has to run around all 4 bases and cross the base plate Sounds crazy right? That’s why baseball is so much fun.
11. Out (A batter)
If the batter hits the ball and any of the fielders catches the ball, that means he is out.
But the ball should be caught from the air. The ball in the sky is called the flying ball. The other way to consider a batter is out which is if the batter miss 3 strikes one after another.
12. Out (A runner)
A runner is considered out if the batted ball hits the runner. Again, if the fielder tags the runner before reaching the base, that means a runner is out. A runner should not pass the pass a base runner while running. If he does that he is out.
13. Force play
A batter is supposed to run for the 1st base when a batter hits the ball which means he forces the player who is in the 1st base to move to the second base.
What if there is no runner at the second base? Right? In this case, if there is no runner at the second base, the batter has to run directly to the 3rd base by crossing the second.
14. Tagging
If a fielder catches the ball in the air, a runner is not allowed to run for the 1st base. He cannot move from the base until the ball hits the fielder glove. If he moves from the bottom, he has to return to the touch a very tough base.
Conclusion
Though the rules of baseball games are so different from others, the game is so enjoyable by both playing and watching. In this article, I have discussed the baseball rules for kids and hope thatit will help you when you want your child to introduce it to baseball.