Obstruction

[Guest DPG]

two questions -   

 

1.  A runner is in a pickle between 2nd and 3rd base.    the runner while going back to second is obstructed.   Is the batter awarded 2nd base because that's where he was headed when the obstruction occurred? 

2. Are there different levels of severity when evaluating obstruction?

 

[noumpere]

2 hours ago, Guest DPG said:

two questions -   

 

1.  A runner is in a pickle between 2nd and 3rd base.    the runner while going back to second is obstructed.   Is the batter awarded 2nd base because that's where he was headed when the obstruction occurred? 

2. Are there different levels of severity when evaluating obstruction?

 

1.. Are the "runner" and the "batter" the same person (i.e., was this a typo)?  If so, then the minimum award is one base *past the base last reached*--so third base.  It's like awards on an overthrow -- it's not "the base you were going to plus one"

 

2.  The consideration is the effect (in terms of distance / time) the OBS had on the runner and the base the runner would have reached absent the OBS

[LRZ]

OBR 5.06(a)(1): "A runner acquires the right to an unoccupied base when he touches it before he is out. He is then entitled to it until he is put out, or forced to vacate it for another runner legally entitled to that base."

OBR 6.01(h)(1): "If a play is being made on the obstructed runner, or if the batter-runner is obstructed before he touches first base, the ball is dead and all runners shall advance, without liability to be put out, to the bases they would have reached, in the umpire's judgment, if there had been no obstruction. The obstructed runner shall be awarded at least one base beyond the base he had last legally touched before the obstruction...." [Emphasis added.]

You don't award a runner a base that he is already entitled to.

 

[maven]

1. I'm reading this question as something like: R2, batter hits a grounder to maybe F5, and R2 gets hung up between 2B and 3B. He's then obstructed during the rundown. In that case, he's entitled to 3B in all codes (whether the ball is dead immediately varies by code). The BR is entitled to the last base legally touched: if he had reached 2B when the ball becomes dead, then he can stay. If not, back to 1B. As he wasn't obstructed, he's not entitled to any award.
2. Different codes handle OBS differently (pro ball has 2 kinds, HS ball just one), but they don't differentiate "degrees of severity" of OBS. The infraction can be accidental/negligent or intentional, but the penalty is the same. If it rises to the level of malicious contact, then both the OBS penalty and the MC penalty would be applied. And we might talk about "severity" of penalty: obstructed runners are awarded bases to nullify the act of obstruction, which could be any number of bases (less than 4).

[Guest DPG]

16 hours ago, noumpere said:

1.. Are the "runner" and the "batter" the same person (i.e., was this a typo)?  If so, then the minimum award is one base *past the base last reached*--so third base.  It's like awards on an overthrow -- it's not "the base you were going to plus one"

 

2.  The consideration is the effect (in terms of distance / time) the OBS had on the runner and the base the runner would have reached absent the OBS

IT was a typo.    I did not mean Batter, but rather runner.

[The Man in Blue]

I had read it the same way @maven did ... that the question was about a trailing, non-obstructed runner.  Thank you Guest for the clarification.

As stated above, KNOW YOUR CODE ... AND YOUR SPORT.  Not only are there differences in baseball codes, but (of course) softball is very different in what happens (it is not an automatic base award).

[Jimurray]

On 6/23/2022 at 7:18 AM, maven said:

1. I'm reading this question as something like: R2, batter hits a grounder to maybe F5, and R2 gets hung up between 2B and 3B. He's then obstructed during the rundown. In that case, he's entitled to 3B in all codes (whether the ball is dead immediately varies by code). The BR is entitled to the last base legally touched: if he had reached 2B when the ball becomes dead, then he can stay. If not, back to 1B. As he wasn't obstructed, he's not entitled to any award.

The batter is entitled to the base you judge he would have reached without the obstruction of the other runner. Depending on his actions that could be 2B in the OP.