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Spots, inexperienced players sometimes do the bat waving thingy hoping it will distract the pitcher in his delivery. It has little to do with the catcher receiving the ball. Still, some batters will take a cut at a pitch when there teammate is stealing in hopes that the cut (legal) will make it more difficult for the catcher in his attempt to retire the runner. Neither is considered batter's interference. To do so is being very over-officious.
The Fed rule of "leaning" over the plate specifically addresses the fact that it's possible for a batter to remain in the box and still interfere with a catcher's attempt to retire a stealing runner. It is seldom effective and seldom called for leaning unless obvious. Yet, as an example, after the pitch is complete the batter may not stick out his arms or bat over the plate to interfere with the catcher. Despite remaining in the box, such action could be judged as batter interference.
Just my opinion,
Freix
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Sun Sep 22, 2002, 06:44am
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