Strike?

[MikeStrybel]

Originally Posted by JJ

R1 attempts to steal. Batter begins to "swing through" the pitch to distract the catcher, but the pitch is a pitch out - way out of the batter's reach - so he checks his swing. (Clearly) After the catcher has thrown the ball, the batter slowly swings the bat in frustration because he could not swing through to distract the catcher.
All of this description is my opinion, but the end result was the batter did not swing at or swing through the pitch in anything close to real time.

Strike? Can you get that one and if so, how would you justify it? At what point does a swing stop being called a strike?

JJ

John, I don't see a strike, since the batter did not swing at a pitch - according to your description, he checked his swing. If this was an IHSA game, you could justify it through 7-2-1b: the batter did not strike at a pitch and miss, since he slowly swung the bat after the catcher had thrown the ball. We see batters practice swing all of the time after a pitch has been delivered and the catcher is returning it. No strike there.

I don't have interference either since his actions did not impede the defensive play.

I take it that you had a coach bite on the call. What happened?