The expression doesn't come from baseball, but from the more general sense of "strike with a baton". When you "bat" something, you hit it with the palm of your palm off your hand, and generally without much concern where it goes, so long as it goes away from you.

If a question is "batted away" or "batted down", it is dismissed without much concern, or much grace.

The expression doesn't come from baseball, but from the more general sense of "strike with a baton". When you "bat" something, you hit it with the palm of your hand, and generally without much concern where it goes, so long as it goes away from you.

If a question is "batted away" or "batted down", it is dismissed without much concern, or much grace.