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Interference or obstruction


Guest Shane
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We were in game of the a best of 3 series in u13 baseball last night. With one out and the bases loaded a player hit a ground ball a couple of feet on the fair side of first. The first basemen was not holding the runner and was standing about 10 feet off of first directly on the baseline. As soon as the ball was hit the runner turned and broke for second and the fielder broke towards 1st for the ball. After 1.5-2 steps by the runner the two players collided. Is this obstruction or nterference. Does it matter how far the fielder was from first noting that he was directly on the baseline? Does it matter if the umpire felt that the fielder had a play on the ball or nor? Thanks,

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4 minutes ago, Guest Shane said:

We were in game of the a best of 3 series in u13 baseball last night. With one out and the bases loaded a player hit a ground ball a couple of feet on the fair side of first. The first basemen was not holding the runner and was standing about 10 feet off of first directly on the baseline. As soon as the ball was hit the runner turned and broke for second and the fielder broke towards 1st for the ball. After 1.5-2 steps by the runner the two players collided. Is this obstruction or nterference. Does it matter how far the fielder was from first noting that he was directly on the baseline? Does it matter if the umpire felt that the fielder had a play on the ball or nor? Thanks,

The fielder was attempting to field a batted ball. A fielder has an absolute right to field a batted ball. A runner must avoid interfering.  Interference.  

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8 hours ago, Guest Shane said:

We were in game of the a best of 3 series in u13 baseball last night. With one out and the bases loaded a player hit a ground ball a couple of feet on the fair side of first. The first basemen was not holding the runner and was standing about 10 feet off of first directly on the baseline. As soon as the ball was hit the runner turned and broke for second and the fielder broke towards 1st for the ball. After 1.5-2 steps by the runner the two players collided. Is this obstruction or nterference. Does it matter how far the fielder was from first noting that he was directly on the baseline? Does it matter if the umpire felt that the fielder had a play on the ball or nor? Thanks,

The highlighted part does matter a little.  If F3 was the protected fielder (99.9% likely if the ball was still in the infield at the time of the collision), then it's int.  IF the ball was already past F3, then it's OBS.

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3 minutes ago, noumpere said:

The highlighted part does matter a little.  If F3 was the protected fielder (99.9% likely if the ball was still in the infield at the time of the collision), then it's int.  IF the ball was already past F3, then it's OBS.

So fielder's aren't protected once a batted ball has passed them. What about a thrown ball? 

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4 minutes ago, Stk004 said:

So fielder's aren't protected once a batted ball has passed them. What about a thrown ball? 

I believe that we then move to the receiving portion of the rules. Unless there is intentional interference on the fielder throwing the ball or the thrown ball. They either have to be moving to receive the thrown ball or in control of the ball. Otherwise obstruction. (LL is just the control part. Moving to receive the ball would be obstruction as well.)

Back to the OP, would it be a judgement call if U1 felt that F3 was actually moving to 1B and F1 was making the play on the ball? I had this in some of my notes, "A fielder is "in the act of fielding" and it is NOT obstruction, if, his block of the base, is a fluid, continuous result of his effort to glove the ball." If he is just moving to the base to get ready to field the ball, then it should be obstruction. 

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4 hours ago, maven said:

When you say "protected," you mean protected from something, right? From what?

Now what's your question about a thrown ball?

Sorry maven. In OBR, a fielder, assuming he was set up legally, is protected from obstruction when he is in the act of receiving a thrown ball. Now, once the ball has passed him, is he now liable for obstruction?

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7 hours ago, Stk004 said:

In OBR, a fielder, assuming he was set up legally, is protected from obstruction when he is in the act of receiving a thrown ball. Now, once the ball has passed him, is he now liable for obstruction?

I would not think about it like this.

First, if as you say he was "set up legally," then he doesn't need protection from OBS, because he is legally positioned.

Next, the protection afforded a fielder in the immediate act of making a play is for moving into the runner's path to field an offline throw, not for one who is already obstructing a runner.

Also, it's worth bearing in mind that the "HP collision rule" complicates the situation regarding this latter protection. Pro baseball is closer to figuring out how they want to interpret that rule than they were last year (when virtually no PU applied it to rule a runner safe, and many were overturned). Technically, IIRC that rule does not use the term 'obstruction', so maybe it doesn't count for your question.

So, when you think about it, all fielders are always liable for OBS, the only exceptions being the protected fielder who is in the act of fielding a batted ball, and a fielder who moves into a runner's path to receive a throw and make a play.

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49 minutes ago, maven said:

I would not think about it like this.

 

Agreed.  Some other concepts that might help in understanding:

A fielder has an absolute right on a batted. ball.  So, once the ball is past him. he has an absolute obligation to get out of the way. A fielder does not have an absolute right to a thrown ball.  So, he's given some leeway top get out of the way once the ball is past him.  You usually see this on a bad pickoff to first and F3 and R1 collide.  As long as F3 moves to (nearly) immediately get off of R3, and doesn't then move in front of R3 to chase the ball, this is a classic tangle / untangle.  It's (nearly) impossible to have a tangle / untangle on a batted ball (except, perhaps, in the area immediately around home plate with BR and F2).

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