The runner on 3rd breaks for home and the pitcher steps back off the rubber and throws the ball home to the catcher who is either behind home plate or on home plate can the hitter swing at the thrown ball? Is he decieving the hitter by throwing the ball home? Is it an illegal pitch? If the batter swings and hits the catcher is it an iterferance call? Our hitter swung and hit the catcher and no call on that although they tagged out the runner and that was called an out. Plaese help with the correct call?

If the pitcher stepped off legally, he became an infielder and the throw home was a throw, not a pitch, and entirely legal. The batter interfered with the catcher. The ball is dead, and with less than 2 out, the runner stealing home is out. With 2 out, the batter is out. Other runners return.

quote:

Originally posted by dash_riprock:
With 2 out, the batter is out. Other runners return.

I don't think so.

Thanks Jimmy. The part about F2 tagging the runner out went in one ear and out the other.

Diz - since the catcher tagged the runner out, the interference is ignored. If he hadn't, what I said above would apply. In either event, the umpire should have called interference when it occurred, and let the play finish.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimmy03:

quote:

Originally posted by dash_riprock:
With 2 out, the batter is out. Other runners return.

I don't think so.

In Dash's defense, since I think this was a poke at "With 2 out, the batter is out (that's 3 outs) and the other runners return". This would be a true statement if, you add "other runners return to their defensive positions"..

quote:

Originally posted by jjk:

In Dash's defense, since I think this was a poke at "With 2 out, the batter is out (that's 3 outs) and the other runners return". This would be a true statement if, you add "other runners return to their defensive positions"..

Or even to their dugout.

Or, team bus, locker room, drawing board.

quote:

Originally posted by jjk:

In Dash's defense, since I think this was a poke at "With 2 out, the batter is out (that's 3 outs) and the other runners return". This would be a true statement if, you add "other runners return to their defensive positions"..

The quote is inaccurate. "Other runners return" was written as a separate sentence.

Dash:
I'm not sure you weren't right to start. This is a straight interfernce call not a batter's interference. The ball wasn't a pitch but a throw to the plate. I would kill it, call the batter out and return the R3. Let me know if I'm full of it.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael S. Taylor:
Dash:
I'm not sure you weren't right to start. This is a straight interfernce call not a batter's interference. The ball wasn't a pitch but a throw to the plate. I would kill it, call the batter out and return the R3. Let me know if I'm full of it.

The problem with Dash's returning the runner statement is that it was seemingly made in connection to a situation in which there was already two outs, and the batter would be the third out. ("With 2 out, the batter is out. Other runners return.")

Normally, one doesn't "return" runners when there are three outs.

quote:

Originally posted by Michael S. Taylor:
Dash:
I'm not sure you weren't right to start. This is a straight interfernce call not a batter's interference. The ball wasn't a pitch but a throw to the plate. I would kill it, call the batter out and return the R3. Let me know if I'm full of it.

Pitch or throw, he's still the batter.

quote:

Originally posted by dash_riprock:

quote:

Originally posted by Michael S. Taylor:
Dash:
I'm not sure you weren't right to start. This is a straight interfernce call not a batter's interference. The ball wasn't a pitch but a throw to the plate. I would kill it, call the batter out and return the R3. Let me know if I'm full of it.

Pitch or throw, he's still the batter.

Dash is correct.

6.06 A batter is out for illegal action when-
(c)He interferes with the catcher’s fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter’s box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher’s play at home base.

Note that there is no metnion of a pitch.

6.06c deals with what heppens after a pitch. It doesn't mention a pitch because it deals with trhe next play after the pitch. What happened in the OP didn't involve a pitch but a throw by an infielder. At that point the ball should be dead and the runner called out. I was thinking the batter/other teammate was called out and the runner returned but in re-reading the OBR 7.11 applies so the runner is called out.
When I said Dash was right on the return, I meant he was right for the wrong reason. Turns out I was also wrong.