When is it Obstruction?

[MTR]

Ok, you're saying that the catcher was behind the plate when she made the catch.

Then you say there's some additional repositioning and finally batter movement, but none of that's necessary if the catcher merely gets down over the plate with the ball in her glove to apply the tag if the runner attempts to slide in. The space between the plate and the batter's box is more than sufficient to place the glove at a point where the tag would be applied before the runner had any chance of contacting the plate.

Based on what you've described, I would teach the catcher to recognize her position in relation to the approaching runner. Once she's got the ball, she owns the plate! She makes the catch, takes half a step forward, and the runner has only 2 choices at that moment - either slide/run into the tag or try to retreat to 3B since your catcher already has the ball in her glove.

If anything, the batter was impeding her own runner's progress to the plate, so if I'm her coach, I'm teaching her to make sure she gets out of the way when there's a runner on 3rd. She needs to be cognizant of the situation, even if she does not see the sign that the delayed steal is on.

Too many coaches/players miss this point. How many times have you seen a player reach out toward a runner instead of placing the glove in the best position between the runner and the base?

The batter must literally interfere with the play. Just standing there isn't necessarily INT. It could be, but s/he would actually have to interfere with the play. This is why a couple of us have been trying to get a good idea of the location of each player.

This is definitely HTBT type of play.

 

[ScottBev]

Teach the catcher to make contact with the batter, if she needs to do so to get in position. That way it makes the interference very clear. I said contact not steam roll the batter.

 

[Ajaywill]

Wish I could draw a diagram. Here is the best I could describe it.
Catcher receives the ball from the pitcher. Batter brings feet together and watches the catcher rise up and catch the ball.
Catcher attempts to come back into position (plate between her legs and straddling the baseline to apply a tag on the potential incoming runner) the batter remains in place not moving....Runner comes in...Parents yelling get out of the way...Batter turns and looks down third baseline....Gets out of the way...Catcher could never get into place to make a play. My catcher stepped out and tried to go around the batter and by then the runner was sliding in while batter backed out. Hopes that makes sense. Looked as if this was coached up..As if the Batters box is a safe haven while a play is happening.

Still a HTBT play...but the part that I bolded above could be interpreted as interference, in my opinion.