Does the Batter Own the Batter's Box?

Todd Williams, Baseball Grit

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Someone asked the question, what is the right-handed batter supposed to do when a runner is stealing third base? Are they supposed to get out of the way of the catcher's throw to avoid being called for interference?

In that situation, the batter's action is very simple: stay right where you are inside the batter's box, and don't make any unusual motion that might interfere or be construed as interfering with the catcher's throw.

The bottom line is that the batter has a legal right to occupy the batter's box. It's the batter's space, and the catcher has to work around the batter.

But the batter does have to be careful. For example, here's a tricky situation that my then 16-year-old son was faced with his first time officiating as the plate umpire. You make the call.

With a runner on third base, the pitcher delivers the ball to the batter who swings at the pitch. The pitch was actually in the dirt, and while swinging, the batter lost his balance and fell to the ground, still inside the batter's box. The catcher misplayed the ball, which bounced to the back stop and ricocheted to the third base side of the backstop, putting the batter directly between the ball and the play at the plate.

As fortune would have it, the catcher got to the ball and attempted to throw the runner out at the plate, but instead the ball hit the batter who was still on the ground. Is this situation batter's interference? What's the correct ruling?

My son ruled the runner safe, and no batter's interference was called. I believe that's the proper call. The batter had every right to be in the batter's box, and there was no unusual action by the batter to interfere with the play. He simply lost his balance and fell down, and couldn't reasonably avoid being in the way. Secondly, it wouldn't really be fair to penalize the offensive team in this situation. After all, it was a passed-ball situation brought on by the defensive team.

I will say that the defensive team's coach didn't like the call, and made his feelings known to my son. But again, I think my son made the correct call.

Now, what if the batter hadn't fallen down, and was able to make a reasonable attempt to avoid interfering with the play. Would he still have been justified in staying in the batter's box?

In my opinion, the answer to that question is no. The batter should make a reasonable attempt to get out of the way.

Interference is clearly a judgment call. Here's the way the official MLB rule 6.06(c) reads:

"A batter is out for illegal action when he interferes with the catcher's fielding or throwing by stepping out of the batter's box or making any other movement that hinders the catcher's play at home base."

Todd Williams grew up playing Little League baseball in the small rural community of Farmington, Utah, which is where his life-long love of the game began. Now a father of four living near Houston, Williams has coached his son's baseball teams for over a decade.

Williams has compiled his youth coaching experiences into three informative eBooks, Baseball's Best Drills, Tips & Strategies, Focus on Hitting and Winning Strategies for Offense and Defense. The eBooks are aimed at successfully coaching mostly younger players and are available exclusively at Baseball Tips.

Williams also publishes a free e-mail newsletter, the Baseball's Best Drills, Tips & Strategies Newsletter, and this article appeared in the April issue.

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