Need help on a ruling

[Panda Bear]

I agree, wrong call. I can only assume the umpire felt the bat was discarded in a location designed to have a later effect on play. In the situation you described, can't imagine how that could be the case.

Had there been an earlier issue in the game, or recently in your area, of bats being dropped to conveniently impair the catcher, or something like that? That said, I hope any such problems are handled in a more straight-forward manner.