Ignore or not

[SanDiegoSteve]

Originally Posted by DG

You read between the lines too much. Discarded does not mean thrown. The op did not say catcher had a problem or rushed his throw. Subsequent info was not in evidence for the original op, or the ump who had to rule. PU must rule on what he saw, not what he found out later. If he saw it as intentional then INT. If the discard contact was not intentional in his view, then no INT. If you do not factor intent you penalize offense for defensive mistake, remember wild pitch.

I have seen a lot of discarded bats after a 3rd strike swing at a pitch in the dirt that were not thrown at a loose wild pitch.

There is a strong probability that it was intentional. Even though the evidence was not in place in the OP, the coach was notorious for teaching his batters to intentionally interfere. That's what I was basing it on. If the PU judges the intent, then it would be INT. Let's put it this way: Had I been the umpire, and thought for one second that the batter-runner interfered intentionally, I would have called INT.