Ignore or not

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by UmpJM (nee CoachJM)

Steve,

Wrong rule.

The proper rule is 8-4-1a, and the batter is only out if the umpire judges that he intentionally hit the ball with his discarded bat.

JM

8-4-1a makes no mention of a discarded bat. It only deals with the batter-runner intentionally interfering with the catcher on a 3rd strike. 7-3-6 references a thrown bat directly and states that if a whole bat is thrown and interferes with a defensive player (read: catcher) attempting a play, interference will be called.

And in addition, the OP was further clarified by stating that the coach directed his players to intentionally interfere with the catcher by throwing the bat at the ball, so it was very likely an intentional act by the batter.