Eightpoint

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1239545253699768

Did anyone else catch the Phillies and Padres game Monday evening and notice the PU using what I will call a wristlet with a rubber band on it on both wrists and with every ball or strike he would move the rubber band from finger to finger. His right hand was strikes and his left hand counted balls.

The first base coach was looking for obstruction since his batter/runner had to check up about three - four steps from the bag as the batter / runner saw F3 ( who was a tall leggy kid for his age) stretch down the first base line to catch the ball while holding the bag. F3 IMO did not prematurely stretch that way without the ball and only did so with the trajectory of the throw and second or two prior to catching the ball. I agree with the safety bag idea for 16U and under... Way too much sloppy baseball even at 16U.

NFHS for scholastic baseball. With that said, this was a 7-8 grade middle school game so there was a fair amount of sloppy baseball.

When a right handed (catches with left hand) first basemen catches a ball thrown from F5 or F6 on the home plate side of first base (while holding the bag) in the base path and there is an eminent collision with R1 either checking up to avoid a collision thus not beating out the throw or actual collision what is the call? Does F3 have to make an effort to catch the ball in front of the base path to avoid the batter runner? There was only the single caulk line and the batter runner was on the foul side of the line running straight towards the first base.