Catcher’s Limits

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by tcannizzo

Fair enough.

So, if the catcher touched the ball prior to crossing the plate. How rule ye? and Why?

Depends...

If the catcher obstructed the batter's opportunity to hit the ball (e.g. it did not reach the batter), then that would be CO. The reason for hedging on this is if the batter is well up in the box, so the pitch has passed the batter before the catcher touches it, then I would just have a "ball".

I've actually had young & inexperienced catchers reach up beside or ahead of the batter for an errant pitch (trying to catch a low pitch before it hits the ground, for example). If the batter shows clearly that she is not swinging (e.g. she has bailed), this, also, is just a ball (possibly with a warning to the catcher for safety reasons).