baseball instructions

Question
I umpire little league 9 and 10 year olds and have a lot of kids jumping out of the box during the delivery of the ball. Do I call these automatic strikes for them stepping out?

Answer
Michael,
If the batter is stepping out of the batters box without getting time called then it is an automatic strike.  If the hitters are doing the typical "scarred" stepping out while the ball is coming toward them it is only a strike if the pitch is in the strike zone.  It all depends on when the batter is stepping out of the batters box.   

Good Luck,
John Priest