Fly ball to short stop

[Guest Tigers81]

Fly ball bounces off short stops glove and is caught by the left fielder. At what point can the runner on first advance to 2nd base? Is it when ball touches short stops glove or when it’s caught by left fielder?

[Replacematt]

4 minutes ago, Guest Tigers81 said:

Fly ball bounces off short stops glove and is caught by the left fielder. At what point can the runner on first advance to 2nd base? Is it when ball touches short stops glove or when it’s caught by left fielder?

A runner can legally leave their base when the ball is first touched by a fielder.

[beerguy55]

On 4/24/2021 at 5:18 PM, Guest Tigers81 said:

Fly ball bounces off short stops glove and is caught by the left fielder. At what point can the runner on first advance to 2nd base? Is it when ball touches short stops glove or when it’s caught by left fielder?

 

On 4/24/2021 at 5:23 PM, Matt said:

A runner can legally leave their base when the ball is first touched by a fielder.

I'm going to clarify this, simply because I have seen this get confused in a game  - Matt's answer is the right answer, but I've seen people still mix it up, or not fully understand it's ramifications...one situation I saw the line drive hit F6's glove, went straight up in the air, and then came down to be caught by F6.

R2 was off the base when it hit F6's glove...when the ball deflected up, R2 ran to third...F6 caught the ball, and then touched second for the DP. (coaches argued, umps talked, umps got it right)

 

So, in the OP, if the runner is already off the base, like they normally would with a leadoff, when F6 touches the ball, then R1 still has to tag up...they just don't have to wait for the catch to complete to leave again, because the ball's already been touched.