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Obstruction / Interference with Protected /Unprotected Fielder


jms1425
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Stumbled across this video that was posted 11 years ago (YouTube is that old??).... My initial thought was that F1 is no longer protected after the ball hit him and bounced away by more than "a step and a reach", thus this would be obstruction on F1, so BR gets 1st.

Thoughts?

 

 

 

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Protection is a tricky concept. It can be gained, transferred, lost, regained....

The purpose of protection is to give the defense adequate opportunity to field a batted ball without hindrance from the offense. The default should be: a fielder who is fielding a batted ball is protected from OBS.

In this case, when the batted ball is hit to F1, he is the protected fielder. When it deflects more than a step/reach from him, he (briefly) loses his protection. "Losing protection" is an exception designed to be fair to runners: if contact with a fielder happens just after a fielder boots the ball (and because he boots it), we'll treat that as OBS.

Then the ball rolls toward the foul line. The BR can see the ball and the fielder going for it. At that point, F1 regains his protection: because the BR has the opportunity to avoid F1, he must do so.

INT.

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5 minutes ago, BigRed said:

I would say that is nothing because the batter has the right to the basepath and the fielder has the right to field the ball.

Would you quote the rule that says the batter or runner has the right to the base path. 

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2 hours ago, maven said:

Protection is a tricky concept. It can be gained, transferred, lost, regained....

The purpose of protection is to give the defense adequate opportunity to field a batted ball without hindrance from the offense. The default should be: a fielder who is fielding a batted ball is protected from OBS.

In this case, when the batted ball is hit to F1, he is the protected fielder. When it deflects more than a step/reach from him, he (briefly) loses his protection. "Losing protection" is an exception designed to be fair to runners: if contact with a fielder happens just after a fielder boots the ball (and because he boots it), we'll treat that as OBS.

Then the ball rolls toward the foul line. The BR can see the ball and the fielder going for it. At that point, F1 regains his protection: because the BR has the opportunity to avoid F1, he must do so.

INT.

I agree with you in NCAA and OBR, but once a fielder misplays a ball in Fed and has to move from his original location, he cannot regain his protection.  This would be obstruction in Fed.

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7 hours ago, BigRed said:

I would say that is nothing because the batter has the right to the basepath and the fielder has the right to field the ball.

That's the one thing it can never be when runner and fielder collide, when the fielder is fielding a batted ball.

Also: there is no such thing as rights.

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