 One of the most confusing situations you will find in a baseball game comes about due to the rare case that batters hit out of order. So let's run through five points that should better explain what should occur whenever this situation arises. To make things simple, we'll use the same batting order that the major legal book uses to illustrate its examples. So our batting order is that Abel is leading off, followed by Baker, and Charles is hitting third. So if you get confused, just remember that the proper order is alphabetical order. A, B, C, Abel, Baker, Charles. The first thing to know is that the only way something occurs in regards to a team batting out of order is if one of the teams appeals, which means they just explain the situation to the umpire. And as we'll see, this might result in a player being called out, runners moving back, or the correct batter just might be brought in to finish the bat. It is not the umpire or the official scorekeeper's job to bring incorrect batting orders to the attention of anyone. This responsibility solely lies with the manager and the players on each team. For the most part, it will be the defensive team making the appeal, but we will see how or why the offensive team might want to bring their own error to the umpire's attention too. The final thing to note about the appeal is that this incorrect order must be brought to the umpire's attention before a pitch is thrown to the next batter or a pick-off attempt is made. If there is an incorrect batter but the defense does not bring it to the umpire's attention until after a pitch has been thrown to the next batter, nothing can be changed and basically they lose out. Our next point is that if an incorrect batting order goes unnoticed by the defensive team and no appeal is made, the order should continue with the batter after the player that actually batted. For example, let's say that it was Abel's spot in the batting order, but Baker steps up to the plate and bats instead. If no appeal is made by either team, the offensive team should simply skip over Abel and send Charles up to the plate next rather than trying to switch Abel and Baker around. Although, as we just saw, if no appeal is made, nothing really happens, so the offensive team could essentially bat in any order that they want to. But this rule was present to tell the offensive team how they should continue if they catch their own mistake. So if Abel were to come up after Baker, the defense could appeal that Abel was batting in the incorrect spot. But if Abel is skipped, Baker bats and Charles follows him. The defensive team cannot appeal that Charles is batting incorrectly because according to this part of the rule, Charles is the correct batter. If either team realizes that the current batter is hitting out of order, he can be replaced during the at bat. Whichever team realizes the mistake can notify the umpire and the correct hitter will take over the at bat. If there is a count, it will remain the same. So in our example for this, let's say that Baker improperly bats in Abel's place. The pitcher throws two pitches to Baker, the count is 2-0. One of the team realizes the error in the batting order and notifies the umpire. Abel was then able to switch with Baker and Abel was able to bat, but he will start with that 2-0 count. Baker would then bat in his proper order after Abel. Fourth, if a batter bats out of turn and an appeal is made after the at bat is completed, the batter should be called out. This is typically where the defense will appeal the situation. And as we say, it must be done one after the at bat is completed and two before another pitch is thrown by either team. For this example, we'll say Baker improperly bats in Abel's place. The defensive team appeals the play after the at bat is complete. Abel is called out and Baker should be the batter. So this final point that Baker is now up might be confusing because he was the one who just improperly batted. So he basically gets to bat two times in a row. This is because it is Abel who is called out. So this is kind of tricky, but remember, we are essentially blaming the person who should have been batting. And that is who we call out, not the player who actually stepped up to the plate. Finally, if our previous situation does occur, any runners who advance due to the results of the illegal at bat should be returned to their original base. This includes anybody who scores. If the runners advance during the illegal at bat because they stole a base or there was a block or a wild pitch or a pass ball, then they do not have to return to the original base. So if Baker is up, enables place and hits a double with runners on first and second base, and those runners come around to score. If the team appeals immediately following that at bat, those two runners will have to return to first and second base. So to wrap things up, if you are involved in a game and you realize that the other team is batting out of order, you could bring it to the umpire's attention right away. But if it were me, I would probably wait until the bat is complete and then appeal to the umpire because that would result in an automatic out. And that is what happens when somebody bats out of order. Thank you.