Did he stay in his basepath?

[Richvee]

http://m.mlb.com/video/v34094561

[basejester]

That helmet toss is weird.

[ricka56]

It all comes down to the umpire's judgment of how close you have to be to the runner to be consider making the tag attempt and where the runner was when the tag attempt(s) were being made. I can see making a case that R2 darted left/right before the tag attempt was made and then didn't vary his path to the base by more than 3 feet from there.

 

But that's a hard sell. And I too, expect an out on a hung-up runner like this. I'd give the benefit of the doubt to the defense, judge a tag attempt being made sooner, rather than later, and probably judge a runner out of the base path on a play like this. But then how could an umpire not be awe struck by that kind of athleticism and not call him safe. 

 

I've watched that video more than twenty times. This would be a great training video to teach umpires to find where the tag attempt was made and where the runner was in relation to that attempt.

 

My question would be, how do you sell a call like that to the manager/coach?

[Gfoley4]

That helmet toss is weird.

Looks like it was coming off then he helped it

[Kevin_K]

I think Nelson and Barry might have kicked one, and they opened the door for the Pirates to win.

 

How does Collins not get dumped there? He should have pushd every button until he found the right one.

 

 

 

 

[siz]

They didn't go to a review?

[maven]

 

I think Nelson and Barry might have kicked one, and they opened the door for the Pirates to win.

 

How does Collins not get dumped there? He should have pushd every button until he found the right one.

 

 

[snark deleted by poster]

 

Collins wasn't trying to get run. He knows how to do that. No doubt he was frustrated that the call was unreviewable. And, though I'm not sure what it means to "open the door" for a team to win, the Pirates did not win as a result of that call, which occurred in the 10th. They won in the 11th and, as the home team, would have played the 11th no matter how this play was ruled.

 

I see two instances where one might wonder whether he was 3 feet out of the line. The first is at 0:13, where he goes to the OF side to avoid a tag by #29. The other is at 0:16, where he goes down and to the IF side to avoid a tag by #11. Pretty amazing and athletic running.

 

The latter is clearly NOT a violation, as the runner went down, not sideways, to avoid the tag. The former is borderline, as #29 was chasing the runner, and he turned wide and outside to avoid the tag.

 

I've seen a number of these now, and the MLB philosophy seems to be to give benefit of the doubt to the runner and make the defense make a play. No cheap outs. I'm ok with that as an MLB philosophy, but I'd probably have that runner out on the first "avoidance."

 

"Cheap outs" are low hanging fruit in HS baseball.

[Gfoley4]

They didn't go to a review?

I believe this is one of the plays that aren't reviewable 

[umpire_scott]

 

They didn't go to a review?

I believe this is one of the plays that aren't reviewable 

 

 

The announcers said Collins had already used his reviews.

[BigUmpire]

Out.

[Sayhey]

Thanks for the video. Important topic. I like to reward athletic moves. I have this athlete safe

Jaska/Roder's interpretation on base path was put into the O.B.R. Jeff Nelson taught from Jaska/Roder. The runner establishes a new base path every time he turns. He is a better athlete. Reward him.

[Jocko]

I like the no call here.

[magna929]

After seeing the clip a few times, I don't believe R2 went more than 3ft laterally in his attempts in avoiding either tag on the play.  To me getting his body to the ground was his most effective tool in avoiding the tags.  I'd like to see this play looking from the 3rd base umpire's view to see the farthest distance between the tag attempts and R2, but I'd say this is a clean play and athletic base running for sure.

[zm1283]

I'm okay with no out call here. On the first attempted tag he was very close. On the second one it wasn't that close.