Cant Bat-Out or not?

Question
Final inning, score is 11-10, 2 outs...we are in the outfield. (winning)  Coach on the other team says, player is not going to hit this inning, his ankle hurts... shouldn't that be an out?

(just a note, was not called an out, and when they scored, he came out running and jumping and high fiving on the field)

Also, can someone get out during a time-out?

Answer
hi alice

thanks for the question!

this is a rule that different organizations handle differently. in fact, the same organization may handle it one way when the kids are 8 and another way when they are 15.

during games when you are hitting the entire team, it could be handled that if the player is hurt, you just go to the next player.
in more competitive situations, not batting the entire roster, then a sub would be used.

i think the real question is not what the "rule" is per this organization, but how ethical is it for a coach to  not have a weak hitter hit to avoid the out and have the next hitter hit (this being done to give his team a better chance to win). alice, you already know that this is not the proper way to handle the situation. it is unfortunate that these tings happen, but they do. however, they give you and the coaches a chance to really teach your kids the proper way to handle things. after the game, it would have been great to talk to your kids about what happened.  our job as coaches is to teach life skills as well as baseball. take advantage of these situations and talk with your team about the ethical and "right" way to play the game.

hope this helps.
steve

p.s. i do not know of a way that an out could be called during a time out, unless, it is discovered that a player hit out of order. i guess then that an out could be called during a time-out.