Ball goes out of play off batters helmet

[Guest Tony D]

There is a guy on 2nd base. The pitcher throws a past ball. The batter gets out of the way (out of the batter's box) and goes about 6 feet away from the plate. The catcher grabs the ball which had ricochet in the line of the batter and 3rd base. When the catcher tried to throw to 3rd base the ball hit the batter's helmet and went out of play. What is the ruling?

[beerguy55]

21 minutes ago, Guest Tony D said:

There is a guy on 2nd base. The pitcher throws a past ball. The batter gets out of the way (out of the batter's box) and goes about 6 feet away from the plate. The catcher grabs the ball which had ricochet in the line of the batter and 3rd base. When the catcher tried to throw to 3rd base the ball hit the batter's helmet and went out of play. What is the ruling?

Assuming the helmet was still on the batter's head this sounds like interference to me.  Batter out, runner returns to second.

[AngryOsito]

I agree with @beerguy55, assuming the helmet is still on the batter, the batter cannot intentionally or unintentionally interfere with a catcher's throw.  6.03 (a) (3) I believe is the rule in OBR.  If this is Little League, I believe it's the same result but I can't seem to find the language other than they can't hinder the catcher from fielding the ball, but ti says nothing about a throw from the catcher in the interference section of 7.09.

 

[grayhawk]

The NCAA put out a video last year on a play where the batter was forced out of the box by a pitch and unintentionally hindered the catcher's attempt to retire a stealing R1.  The official NCAA ruling was interference, even though the batter was just trying to avoid the pitch.  Sometimes, life just ain't fair.

[beerguy55]

10 minutes ago, grayhawk said:

The NCAA put out a video last year on a play where the batter was forced out of the box by a pitch and unintentionally hindered the catcher's attempt to retire a stealing R1.  The official NCAA ruling was interference, even though the batter was just trying to avoid the pitch.  Sometimes, life just ain't fair.

But, I think it aligns with the new HBP standard where the batter isn't required to move to avoid the pitch.   Batter stays still, they might get their base.  Batter moves they might get out.

[SavoyBG]

On 7/16/2019 at 2:15 PM, Guest Tony D said:

There is a guy on 2nd base. The pitcher throws a past ball.

pssstttt! It's PASSED ball.

[dpheat]

In little league, illegal action for batter, 6.06 c - interfering with the catcher's fielding or throwing by: 6.06 c(1) stepping out of the batter's box

Batter would be out for illegal action/interference.

 

[Rich Ives]

Kickball rule. Plunk the player to gt an out.