Batter Interference on throw down to 3rd

It is a judgement call. They ALL are.

And, the batter has the right to the box.

As long as he is in the box and does not interfere otherwise there is no interference.

That way the catcher knows where he is supposed to be and can alter his throw accordingly.

I beleive the batter is allowed in the box at all times even in stealing home situations (not passed ball/wild pitch situation). Not sure of the phraseing but I think it has to do with the "bang bang" timing -- if he left the box and interfered that would be different -- say a throw to second and batter crossed the plate. The assumption is the batter is watching the pitch and does not have time to get out of the way.

Catchers are taught to step back on throws to third - It think

Thanks for the quick response, Former. If the cather attempts to make a throw and hits the batter while the batter is in the box, do we just play on?

Last night, the umpire said 'As long as the batter is in the box, he can't interfere.' It appears there was more to the ruling, so the ump must have been saying 'He didn't attempt to get in the way and he's entitled to the box.'

quote:

Catchers are taught to step back on throws to third

I think the ball is dead when the catcher or the ball collides with the batter and the batter has not interferred.

I posed nearly an identical question on another board quite a while ago. The answer was that, in the case of a runner stealing 3rd, the batter can't resonably be expected to get out of the way that fast. As long as he doesn't intentionally (here it comes) - in the umpires judgement - intefere with the catcher it's not interference. The batters box isn't an automatic safe zone where the batter can do anything he wants, but as long as he doesn't do anything intentional to interfere with the catcher he should just stay put. Depending on where the catcher fields the pitch he should be throwing either in front of or behind the batter, never over him.

And unless the ball caroms out of play after hitting the batter, the ball remains live.

Once again I'm a day late, a dollar short. As stated as long as the batter does nothing intentional the catcher hs to throw around him. It's 6.06c in pro but I'm not sure in the HS book. Billy Ripkin got called for it when he stepped straight back but stayed in the box. It's a call you don't see often.

This situation is explained in the NFHS case book on page 57 under 7.3.5 SITUATION E.