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Runner struck by batted ball


Guest USABL Ump
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Guest USABL Ump

So I was doing a game solo behind the plate.  Runner on first, big right handed cleanup hitter at the plate.  The infield overshifted dramatically.  The SS went to short left field, the 2B moved to the left side of the second base bag.  The first baseman was holding the runner on, leaving a huge gap between first and second base.  In fact, there were no infielders on the right side at all except for the first baseman who was on the bag.  

Batter hits a hard ground ball to the right side right to where the second baseman normally would have been playing.  It struck the runners foot as he tried to jump away from it.  The ball didn't deflect and just continued into right field.  No infielder in the world would have had a chance at the ball.  I let the play resume.  

Coaches complained a bit but the real issue was a guy from the stands having a fit and screaming his head off until he was removed by a few other parents.  

Am I right not to call the batter out because they was no possible play?

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Under FED rules,( high school ) your no call is probably right. Basically if you drew a line between F3 and F4 , did the ball hit R1  in front(interference), or behind ( play on) that line. 

Under OBR, this is interference , as the ball had  not gone through or by an infielder. 

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58 minutes ago, Richvee said:

Under FED rules,( high school ) your no call is probably right. Basically if you drew a line between F3 and F4 , did the ball hit R1  in front(interference), or behind ( play on) that line. 

Under OBR, this is interference , as the ball had  not gone through or by an infielder. 

Rich, you're misapplying the so-called "string theory," which wasn't coined to cover the shift.

Look at the actual rule (8-4-2k): any runner is out when he... "is contacted by a fair batted ball before it touches an infielder, or after it passes any infielder, except the pitcher, and the umpire is convinced that another infielder has a play" plus some irrelevant exceptions.

So, as with OBR, the default is: OUT (a version of INT).

Did the ball hit an infielder first? No, so still OUT.

Did it pass an infielder? No (due to the shift), so still OUT.

And that's it.

"String theory" was coined to interpret what "passes any infielder" means. It doesn't offer an independent standard for (this kind of) INT. 

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With F3 covering R1, his natural move on the pitch is to move a few steps off the foul line, and inside the baseline between first and second...by default R1 will be behind F3 as he takes his secondary lead and moves to second...F3 will be in front of the base line...R1 will be on or behind it..can you not rule that the batted ball has passed F3 by the time it hits R1?   And then determine that F4 has no play?

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People get all tied up over this rule, which is actually fairly simple. A runner who's hit by a fair batted ball is hindering the defense's ability to make a play. That's INT, and results in a dead ball and an out.

There are exceptions to this, but the expectation is: ball hits runner, runner is out. This imposes a burden on runners to avoid a fair batted ball.

The exceptions relate to the burden: when should a runner NOT be expected to avoid a batted ball? Well, the first is a deflection: ball deflects off F1, runner hit. He can't be expected to react that fast. No INT.

The other (main) one is: ball goes past (OBR has "through or by") an infielder, runner hit right behind the fielder. Again, unreasonable to expect the runner to avoid that ball. No INT.

This second kind of exception is where the rule difference appears. OBR's exception is quite narrow: "through or by." Any other part of the infield, we're calling INT.

FED's is broader: "passes an infielder," interpreted using string theory. And that will generally alleviate the runner's burden when the infield is playing in. 

So the "default" ruling is: runner out. Don't work too hard to get him out of that. 

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1 hour ago, maven said:

 

So the "default" ruling is: runner out. Don't work too hard to get him out of that. 

Exactly my thinking.  And I will add:  If you call him out, it will likely result in crickets.  If you don't call him out, it will likely result in an argument (as the OP learned).

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