iff and interference

[Guest NJ Coach]

bases loaded 1 out. BR hits pop up along 1BL. PU signals and calls "IFF BR out if fair." As F3 is making a play on the ball R1 commits interference on F3. The ball lands fair about 3 feet in front of 1b and then bounces foul before the bag. Had there been no INT everyone was in agreement that the ball would've been caught in fair territory. Whats the call?

[maven]

12 hours ago, mac266 said:

You can catch a foul ball for an out.  This is baseball 101.  So you have me greatly confused.

True, but only if it's live.

When there's runner INT and the batted ball is near the line, we have to leave it live in order to determine its fair/foul status. This is crucial because the batter's status will sometimes depend on that status, as in the OP: if fair, the batter's out for IFF, but not if it's foul.

The moment that fair/foul status is determined—for instance, by touching a fielder's glove while over fair or foul ground—the ball is dead on the INT. So it's never caught for an out, because the defense can't record an out by catching a dead ball.

So in the OP, if the popup is foul, but the batter is not out on the catch, and we'd treat it like any other foul ball—batter returns to the plate with a strike added to the count unless he has 2 strikes. And we enforce the penalty for runner INT (interfering runner out, other runners return).

[noumpere]

13 hours ago, mac266 said:

You can catch a foul ball for an out.  This is baseball 101.  So you have me greatly confused.

Baseball 101 covers the basics -- a caught fly results in an out.

You need to take the 200-level course to delve into the "IFF plus INT" scenario.

[beerguy55]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:10 PM, mac266 said:

You can catch a foul ball for an out.  This is baseball 101.  So you have me greatly confused.

It's called context.   Stop reading every sentence/post in a bubble.  Read the rest of the thread for the context.  Then you won't be so confused.