Catchers obstruction?????

[jicecone]

Originally Posted by Manny A

It's not black or white, Rich, as I'm sure you know. If the batter makes no attempt to offer at the pitch, and the umpire can judge that the catcher's position had nothing to do with why the batter didn't offer because the batter couldn't possibly see him (which sounds like what happened here), then there really is no CI/CO. But if the umpire judges that the reason the batter didn't offer was because the batter saw where the catcher was located (such as right on top or in front of home plate), then CI/CO could be ruled.

Even then, I've seen batters completely bail out of the box before the pitch arrives, such as on a steal of home. If the catcher moves up to catch the pitch, I couldn't justify a CI/CO call then, since it was clear the batter had no intent to contact the pitch.

What were talking about is not whether it is CI/CO, rather, are we going to call it or not. I am not disagreeing about some of the suggestions about when we should or should not call it however, one only has to come up against a coach that is smart enough to question why his batter isn't on first, one time, and you may think about this a little more closely.

JMO