Batter Hit by Catcher's Throw

[IceGator8]

Hmmmmm,

Situation 1: Everything is fine as the batter stayed in the box and didn't do anything unnatural to interfere with the play. Batter has a right to the box so the ball is live.

Situation 2: Batter steps out of box and into the throwing lane. If the batter's out of the box he has the duty to be out of the way of the play. If I think the batter was legitimately in the catchers way and he gets beaned by the throw then I'm calling the batter out and sending the runner back to second. In my mind the batter can use his eyeballs to figure out where the ball is and go the opposite way.

I wonder if the way these situations are called is a regional issue. Around here everyone calls it the way I specified. In fact, when I was a catcher in high school my coach told me to drill a batter who was stupid enough to be out of the box and in my way.

This is an interesting subject.