7.13 inclusion

[afaber12]

As far as I'm aware, rule 7.13 is only in effect for MLB games at the moment. Assuming that's the case, and we don't have any MLB umpires lurking on here under pseudonyms, I might become the first umpire on this board to officiate a game with that rule in place.

 

About 30 minutes ago I got an email informing me that as of Monday all levels of baseball in Australia will have rule 7.13 in effect, with the wording in an attached document. As far as I can tell its word-for-word the same as the MLB version - that's the online version, with no reference to a directive to not enforce it in force play situations, or clarifying why only catchers are prevented from blocking the plate and not any other fielder covering the play.

 

So this should be interesting...

[JaxRolo]

It's an OBR rule why wouldn't it be enforced?

[Richvee]

Good luck with that, and keep in mind an on field MLB umpire has yet to call a runner safe for an F2's infraction of 7.13

[afaber12]

It's an OBR rule why wouldn't it be enforced?

 

And I quote from the MLB "Official Baseball Rules" document online: "The Playing Rules Committee has adopted Rule 7.13 as set forth below on an experimental basis for the 2014 season."

 

I'm not sure it truly is an OBR rule, but an added experimental rule that applies to one particular competition. Or at least it wasn't. Apparently its now an OABR rule. Except the group that started the experiment are still getting their results, have adjusted the parameters of the experiment, and have yet to release their findings.

 

I suppose I'm not completely surprised that it's being introduced. With the exception of the ABL, virtually every league, tournament, etc has some sort of anti-collision rule in place, and it makes sense to try and have a uniform approach to it, so there's at least some chance of everyone involved knowing how a situation should be handled. My problem is that this rule seems to "fix" a problem that on a lot of plays doesn't actually exist, while ignoring the potential for the same problem to occur at other bases - which as you get further away from the MLB level, it probably becomes more likely to pop up.

 

It feels like the equivalent of a group of scientists testing a new drug that could be a cancer cure, and before they've progressed to trials on mice or monkeys let alone humans, a different company is selling the drug to the public. I'm not sure I like the idea of being a salesman in this scenario.

[blue23ll]

For most of us here who do youth ball/HS/NCAA, those games are played with rules that include any or all of these; FPSR, slide or avoid, malicious contact/crash, etc. OBR/MLB does not have any of these protections in place, to the best of my knowledge. MLB 7.13 would seem to be unneeded in these cases. 

[pnewton]

We had the rule in place for HS season this year.  (MA uses OBR in HS)

[Richvee]

We had the rule in place for HS season this year.  (MA uses OBR in HS)

Straight OBR with no modifications?

So until this year, high school kids could truck the catcher? 

No courtesy runner, no re entry, no DH other than for F1, no FPSR? 

[pnewton]

@Richvee - We were using and still are using the NCAA force play slide rule and collision rule.  Yes, that means we had two rules that are in contradiction to each other this past season.  There are no courtesy runners.  Some of the other rules vary by league/conference, some allow re-entry and some don't, some allow DH for anyone and some only for the pitcher.  One league I work in even plays 9 inning games with wooden bats because they want to stay as true to OBR as possible.  

 

The adoption of the NCAA FPSR and collision rules are recent from the state, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, until then it was straight OBR.

[Richvee]

@Richvee - We were using and still are using the NCAA force play slide rule and collision rule.  Yes, that means we had two rules that are in contradiction to each other this past season.  There are no courtesy runners.  Some of the other rules vary by league/conference, some allow re-entry and some don't, some allow DH for anyone and some only for the pitcher.  One league I work in even plays 9 inning games with wooden bats because they want to stay as true to OBR as possible.  

 

The adoption of the NCAA FPSR and collision rules are recent from the state, maybe 7 or 8 years ago, until then it was straight OBR.

Sounds like a nice way to do it. OBR with some NCAA safety rules...I like it. 

[Out&UglyToo]

Could you please quote the actual wording of this rule? Formerly 7.13 was unique to Little league due to the requriement to stay in contact with the base until the pitched ball was in the vicinity ot the batter. Thank you.