The OBR rule book says that a pinch hitter officially becomes a player when he steps into the batter's box. A coach was telling me that he thought that an unannounced pinch hitter should be treated as batting out of order, thus appealing after the at-bat.

Is there a penalty for not announcing a pinch hitter?

Jay

A pinch hitter is just another substitute. So what you have is an unannounced sub, not a BOOT.

<b> A coach was telling me that he thought that an unannounced pinch hitter should be treated as batting out of order, thus appealing after the at-bat.</b>

There you go again, listening to coaches.