That's much clearer, if truly the batter had the bat ready then it shouldn't be called. Nice pic, I'm just baffled how people are mad at an umpire for making a call that "no one makes". That logic is stupid
So because other umpires suck at their jobs, someone who follows a rule as it's stated it's now wrong? It shouldn't matter if his colleagues do it or not, a rules a rule
Exactly, and it's not like he awarded the base, he called it a ball and naturally it was ball four. After the explaination by Arash really there shouldn't be any confusion, good call by the ump