Batter's Interference or Not?

[Linknblue]

Situation: ASA Rules
No outs, runner on 2nd base. Batter swings and misses ball and runner on 2nd is stealing 3rd. Catcher catches ball and immediately comes up and runs into batter trying to throw to 3rd to get runner stealing.

Batter did absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. She hadn't even recovered fully from missing the pitch.

I thought the catcher was trying to "draw" interference by running to batter that was clearly in the the box. No attempt to throw around batter at all. She actually came up and pushed the batter back toward 3rd base til she was out of the box.

I ruled nothing but of course I got flack. Was I wrong? Is this "automatic" interference because the batter was in the way no matter what catcher did?

Thanks,

[RKBUmp]

You have answered your own question, you said you felt the catcher initiated the contact in an attempt to draw an interference call.

[CecilOne]

Originally Posted by RKBUmp

You have answered your own question, you said you felt the catcher initiated the contact in an attempt to draw an interference call.

And " She hadn't even recovered fully from missing the pitch."

[Dakota]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

And " She hadn't even recovered fully from missing the pitch."

And, "was clearly in the the box".

[teebob21]

7-6-R,S,T (paraphrased): The batter is out when:

R: hindering the catcher from catching or throwing by stepping out of the box (NOPE)
S: actively hindering the catcher while in the box (NOPE)
T: intentionally interfering with a thrown ball (NOPE)

Stuff like this typically gets an immediate verbal warning from me to keep the cheap contact to a minimum, like when the runner advances on a passed ball and "clips" the obstructing fielder with a shoulder. Unless I was completely surprised by the catcher's actions, my call would have been "Hey, catcher, knock it off!". There's no mechanic in the book for this but I usually am giving a signal like:

[jwwashburn]

The "in the box" part irrelevant if the batter "actively interferes" ie: is moving.

If your catcher intentionally contacted the batter then, it was probably not interference.