High Schoolers Intentionally Hit Umpire; He Considers Legal Options

A high school baseball umpire in Georgia is considering taking legal action against two players who orchestrated hitting the umpire on purpose with a pitch. According to reports, the players were upset with the umpire’s strike zone and decided to take action- and this time they finally hit their target. Thankfully, the umpire was wearing a mask that absorbed much of the impact from the ball. Even so, the umpire has had to undergo and MRI and is suffering from headaches. Although the players deny they did it intentionally, the video below seems to show that the catcher did not even attempt to catch the pitch.

The players claim that they were mixed up in their signals (the catcher expected a curveball and the pitcher threw a fastball). This excuse seems highly unlikely given the video evidence showing the catcher’s actions.

This action actually seems like it was an intentional tort and could cost the young men and their parents many dollars. There at least seems to be a claim for battery and maybe for an intentional infliction of emotional distress, since it would reason that the umpire might be traumatized to ever take in a baseball game again.

What are your thoughts on what these highschoolers did? Some might say that the umpire knew that this was a possibility and therefore should not be able to recover anything. I would something so blatant and heinous such as this should result in some compensation for the umpire because he did not ever expect to have a 90 mph fastball intentionally thrown at his face.