Catcher’s Limits

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

My visualization was from a game situation I had just this past week:
The batter was up in the box,
The catcher's feet were forward of the back corners of the batter's boxes,
When the catcher had set up her target, her mitt was over the plate,
I held up the pitch, instructed her to move back, which she did without incident,

In my view, given the highlighted part, you had no justification for instructing the catcher to move back. This cather's position is legal in ASA. She is at risk of CO if the batter moves back, but that is her business, not yours.

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

My comment was that she could get a CO if she touched the ball before it finished crossing the plate.

And, I completely disagree with this statement. You have not provided any justification for this statement.

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

Earlier in the thread, there was a dispute about the existance of any rule that would justify the PU moving a catcher back. We established that there is such a rule, (although those who challenged the existence of the rule, have not acknowledged it.)

No, "we" did not. You are relying on a POE (not a rule), where the underlying conditions of the rule which the POE pertains to have not happened.

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

The last few posts are into the "what-if" scenarios which bring the rule into play. Different scenarios have different visualizations.

I was attempting to figure out how you could be taking the stand you are taking. Can you get away with what you did (asking the F2 to move back)? Of course. Did you have sufficient justification in the situation you have described above, according to the rules, to ask the F2 to move back? No, not in my view. This is compounded by the fact that what you have stated to be CO is, in fact, not CO.

Could you have gotten away with calling having the mitt over the plate (not in front of the plate) when the batter IS in front of the plate as CO? Maybe, but you probably would have gotten the opportunity to explain your call to a knowledgable coach, especially if you did this as you threatened the catcher you would - with a belt high take. Heck, this is not even keeping the ball from entering the strike zone, since by definition the ball is already in the strike zone when caught by the catcher.