K is chasing a free kick down the sideline and they bat the ball back toward their own end zone to keep the ball from crossing the side line. Has K fouled (Illegal Bat)?
If the ball has been grounded, and has travelled 10 yards, no problem - K is free to bat the ball towards their own end zone.
But K is also legally allowed to legally possess this ball (if it's gone 10 yards). So why would K bat it? Maybe K can't secure it without falling out of bounds, and is trying to bat it to a teammate? I don't see a problem with that.
EDIT: Maybe I'm mistaken.... I checked the rules, and the batting exception seems to apply only to scrimmage kicks, not free kicks. So this is a 15 yard penalty for batting the ball? I'd have to be 'sure' it was a bat, because a 'muff' is perfectly legal.
EDIT 2: Hmmmm... but illegally batting the ball saves his team the free-kick-out-of-bounds penalty. Say player K3 batted the kick from the R20 to the R22, and K/R recovered there. R would have gotten the ball at the 35 had the ball gone out of bounds (given a normal kick from the K40). So, now I'm thinking call the illegal bat!