[Andy]

The official interpretaion is that a courtesy runner is not allowed in this situation.

The rationale is that the spirit and intent of the courtesy runner rule is for the pitcher and/or catcher to be able to rest after they have batted and reached base. In the scenario presented the pitcher did not bat and is not entitled to a courtesy runner.

It was felt, that in this situation, a coach is only trying to get a faster runner in the game without using up a substitution.

When the question was posed to me, my intial response was to allow it. I did not like that answer, but could not think of any ruling to disallow the courtesy runner in this situation.

Mike - Is this the same interp you have? I'm also interested to hear your opinion.