A few times this past season I saw a team trying to intentionally walk a batter and the pitcher and catcher messed up the exchange and runners were able to move up or score. Jim Kreuz in the summer 2010 edition of the Baseball Research Journal brought up the idea of using the catcher interference to give the batter first base on only one pitch.
The official rule on catcher interference states:
INTERFERENCE
(a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play. If the umpire declares the batter, batter- runner, or a runner out for interference, all other runners shall return to the last base that was in the judgment of the umpire, legally touched at the time of the interference, unless otherwise provided by these rules.
(a) Offensive interference is an act by the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play. If the umpire declares the batter, batter- runner, or a runner out for interference, all other runners shall return to the last base that was in the judgment of the umpire, legally touched at the time of the interference, unless otherwise provided by these rules.
Rule 2.00 (Interference) Comment: In the event the batter-runner has not reached first base, all runners shall return to the base last occupied at the time of the pitch.
(b) Defensive interference is an act by a fielder which hinders or prevents a batter from hitting a pitch.
Couldn't the catcher or another fielder just step in front of the batter and just catch the ball. "Shove" the batter with the pitch on the way and then get the interference call. There seems to be a way to manipulate the catcher interference call to get a runner to 1B on one pitch instead of throwing 4 pitches. What are your thoughts on using catcher interference instead of the intentional base on balls?