tiger79

Excellent explanation, thanks.

There was a balk call yesterday during the Giants game against the Rockies. Can someone explain this rule to me? Since the pitcher threw to an occupied base, how is this a balk? http://m.mlb.com/video/v893805083/colsf-with-anderson-at-bat-peavy-balks-in-a-run/?game_pk=448105

The play was a ground ball to F6 and a really bad over throw to F3. The ball went behind the 1B coach who had moved to avoid getting hit by the throw. F1 ran into the 1B coach trying to track down the ball and BR ended up at 2B in the whole process. I want to confirm if this is interference on the 1B coach.

Thanks the affirmation, teaching this to young players and especially new coaches is a challenge when they do not understand the rules.

I need a little guidance on this.. I umpire youth level ( Pont and Little League 11-13) and it is common for a pop up or ground ball to be hit along 1B line in fair territory where collisions sometimes happen. The runner needs to avoid but at all times but sometime the runner cannot see the pop up and does not have time to avoid. Does this factor into the call? What about in foul territory? In one case, the runner ran into the Pitcher fielding the pop up causing him to drop it. In this case I called interference. Thanks

To clarify, I was the plate umpire, the ball was kicked away by the back of the foot or ankle. The pitched ball was in the dirt near the batter's feet, deflected by the catcher to behind the batter who was moving away from the pitch and catcher who was crashing almost into him.

Runner on 3B with no outs. Pitch is in the dirt, catcher blocks it and the ball rolls behind the batter who, in my opinion, inadvertently kicks the ball away as he backs out of the box thinking the runner may score on the PB. The ball was kicked back towards the dugout and the runner scored. What should have been the call? The run was allowed.

Thanks for the reply. That was my call, and since this was a lower level game with novice coaches, no one knew the rule of course.

The situation I had was there was a run down between 3B and Home. No preceding runners. The base runner was obstructed going back into 3B by the SS. Does the runner get awarded Home even if he was not headed in that direction? I read the penalty was one base. Needed to confirm my call. I am a first year umpire. Level was 12 year olds playing under Little League rules; both managers had varying opoions of course.

Situation last week: 0 outs, R1. Batter hits slow ground ball to right side of mound just past it, pitcher leaves mound to field and does. On the play, R1 runs into 2B who had come up to field the ball too. Pitcher throws to second for force out. In my estimation, the R1 would have made it safely to second if not running into 2B. Is that obstruction? Or does the fielder have the right to the lane to field.

I need some input on an obstruction call for when the batter/runner rounds 1B on a single and bumps into the 1B fielder. No real attempt was made to go to 2B in my opinion. Is this obstruction? Is there a difference on the call between LL rules and PONY?

What is the ruling on the following - bases loaded, infield fly rule is announced by umpire on pop up, runner interferes with catch attempt and ball is dropped?

Has Little League and PONY leagues eliminated the "Pitcher's fake pick-off attempt to 3B pivot and then throw to 1B play"?

Runner on 2B and takes off early for 3B when the pitcher is still set. No runner was on 3B at the time. The pitcher throws to 3B without disengaging from the rubber first, is that a balk?