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Originally Posted by Scooby
I had this play yesterday in a NIAI game.
R1 on first no outs. R1 steals on the pitch and after the ball is in the catchers glove, B2 swings. No attempt at the ball just wanted to get in the way, but also there was no interference. I made the call no strike since there was no attempt at the ball and no interference. Needless to say the defensive coach was not happy. I explained that if I ruled it a strike and there was contact (bat on the glove) then I would have to have been obstruction since it would be a legitimate swing. So I was leaving the opptunity open to call interference.
What would you have had?
I think that I should have called it a strike and if there was contact then no strike and interference.
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Once I saw the NIAI, I put on my coaching glasses and understand exactly what is being said. Don't know if that is a good thing.
Pitch in the catcher's glove, then the batter initiates a swing. The question is, "at what?" Is not a swing an attempt to strike the ball? If there is no ball to strike, how can there be a swing?
Scooby's reasoning on not recognizing it as a legitimate swing included the point that if it was to be considered a swing,
IF there had been contact with any part of the catcher or equipment, that would be CO. Around here, NAIA schools use ASA rules, so using that as a guideline, the book states that if the batter's swing is delayed and it is obviously meant to interfere with the catcher's attempt to make a play on a runner, interference should be called.
However, the OP specifically noted that the batter's action created no interference with the catcher's attempt to make a play on the runner.
I think Scooby just overthought the situation. If the ball is in the catcher's glove when the batter initiated the swing, there is no possibility for the batter to strike the ball, therefore (unless the catcher stepped up out of the box to catch the ball) the catcher did not prevent the batter from striking the ball. No possibility of the CO. On the other side of the coin, if he honestly believed the late swing was INT, is should have been called immediately and not delayed based on the outcome.