Pitch or throw?
 

Bases loaded, two outs, and the runner on third takes a long lead as if he is going to break for the plate.

Pitcher sees him, steps off the rubber and throws to the catcher behind the plate. The batter swings at the ball and drives it off the right field fence for a double.

What's the correct ruling? Is this a pitch, or a throw to an infielder and thus not a legal pitch? Can you provide OBR ruling in such an instance? Thanks for the help

He stepped off. What does that make him? Can that type of player deliver a pitch?

8.01 (e) If the pitcher removes his pivot foot from contact with the pitcher's plate by stepping backward with that foot, he thereby becomes an infielder...


7.09 (d) It is interference by a batter or a runner when before two are out and a runner on third base, the batter hinders a fielder in making a play at home base; the runner is out;

PENALTY FOR INTERFERENCE:
The runner is out and the ball is dead.

That is an interesting rule.

May I tell my pitcher to step off and hit the batter to get an out in this situation? (Not that I would)

Or does one have an arguement that there was no play at the plate due to the runner not actually stealing home?

Section 2.00 (definitions) INTERFERENCE: (a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with...

To interfere requires the transgressor to commit an act. Standing there getting hit in the butt doesn't meet this requirement IMO.

The batter being hit by a throw would not be out (providing he did not intentionally interfere).

In the OP the batter would be out for batting a throw that was an attempt to retire a runner.

Would it be concidered a rat move if I tried to get the batter to hit the ball in this situation from my pitcher?

YES!

Thanks
David

Haha ok, just checking.

To do that might mean (or be interpreted) that your F1 made a pitching motion while not on the rubber. That's a whole different rule. ;)

Incorrect. Why bold the rule if you're going to unbold the part that makes it not apply to the current situation.

The BATTER is out in the OP.

Yes, you always have an out on this play, but with less than 2 outs you nail RUNNER and with 2 outs you nail BATTER.

Thanks. I forgot the OP specified 2 outs. My bad. Batter is out in OP.

Free speech being what it is, you can tell your pitcher anything you want.

However, that tactic will start a beanball war and/or get your F1 - and likely you, if the umpire knows** you ordered it - ejected.

**granted, not that likely, unless you were unwise enough to yell it out loud at the time of the play or something.

Say no outs, runner is put out as a result of the BR interference, what happens to BR then, does he contnue to bat?

Yes.

May be picking nits here, but in the OP, it doesn't say that the runner actually is trying to score, but just taking a long lead as if he is going to break for the plate.

In youth games, I've seen very long leads at third base, particularly when the pitcher is in the windup position. Sometimes it is the type of leadoff described even before the pitcher has begun his pitching motion.

Still interference by the batter? If so, would the runner at third be declared out with less than two outs?

Not covered. You could decide that it's a violation by the batter ("weak interference") and by the pitcher (delaying the game by throwing to a fielder without a play) and just reset everything.

The BI occured when the batter hit the ball. Resulting action from that point on is null. Enforce the out on the batter. Return the runner.

If the runner never actually broke for home, wouldn't this just be a balk.
The pitcher made a pitching motion while not on the rubber.
Maybe it was HTBT depending on what move he actually made, but I'm guessing it looked enough like a pitching motion that the batter took a swing.

Pat

If that's what the umpire has, then it's a balk. The "assumption" in the OP is that the throwing motion was sufficiently different from the pitching motion.