A "food for thought" play

[MD Longhorn]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

I think many of us announce the batter is out when not eligible to attempt 1st, so I guess we better get a coaching or not ruling somewhere.

Honestly, I wish this was our mechanic. Alas, it's not. If you revise the mechanic to say, "Batter's out" after a third strike in EVERY situation where that batter is, in fact, out - then you're not doing anything different (coaching, helping the catcher, whatever) if you say it in the OP. To me ... this is much cleaner and clearer than what we're told to do. But unfortunately ... it's not what we're told to do.