Batter stays in box, play at home

[Guest love to ump]

Did not see the play, but an Umpire asked other Umpires for their opinion.

LL game...he described play as passed ball, catcher retrieves ball, throws to pitcher covering home,

goes to swipe runner, but hits leg of batter still standing in batter's box, and runner called safe.

Some umpires said batter obstructed play, some said he has right to batter's box.

 

[ArchAngel72]

 

I'm gonna go with 7.09C here and say yes Interference occurred .  Based on OP's post

Had the tag not touched the batter and R3 had slid in safe and the tag was late.  No interference so long as the batter did not move to interfere or accidently move and interfered with any throw to the pitcher.

 

[834k3r]

Interference by the batter, R3 is out.

[maven]

Yes, that's INT. The batter's "right to the box" lapses when there is no pitch. If he has time—as he seems to have from the description—he must vacate the space needed by the defense to make the play.

[maven]

1 minute ago, 834k3r said:

Interference by the batter, R3 is out.

unless...

[834k3r]

Just now, maven said:

unless...

Just like every other ruling in baseball. 

[ATXBlue]

I have interference whether or not the tag hits him, look at (d) "...add to the difficulty of the fielder" He needs to get out of the box, he is in the way of a play being made at home and has no reason to be there. 

Definition of Offensive Interference: an act by a member of the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play.

With 2 outs: batter is out 

Less than 2 out: Runner is out

[noumpere]

34 minutes ago, Guest love to ump said:

Some umpires said batter obstructed play, some said he has right to batter's box.

 

That sounds correct.

 

 

[Velho]

21 minutes ago, noumpere said:

56 minutes ago, Guest love to ump said:

Some umpires said batter obstructed play, some said he has right to batter's box.

 

That sounds correct.

Others touched on this and I think it's the root of the some yes, some no: batter had time to get away in OP vs. F2 is throwing to F5 for R2 advancing where  batter gets more leeway since he can't "simply disappear". 

Those that say no INT may be equating the two situations.

[ArchAngel72]

7 minutes ago, Velho said:

Others touched on this and I think it's the root of the some yes, some no: batter had time to get away in OP vs. F2 is throwing to F5 for R2 advancing where  batter gets more leeway since he can't "simply disappear". 

Those that say no INT may be equating the two situations.

Ok yeah and what I am also thinking of is if R2 steals home.

 

[ArchAngel72]

36 minutes ago, ATXBlue said:

I have interference whether or not the tag hits him, look at (d) "...add to the difficulty of the fielder" He needs to get out of the box, he is in the way of a play being made at home and has no reason to be there. 

Definition of Offensive Interference: an act by a member of the team at bat which interferes with, obstructs, impedes, hinders or confuses any fielder attempting to make a play.

With 2 outs: batter is out 

Less than 2 out: Runner is out

If he did not hinder a throw or a tag  at all I have no INT.  If he is standing in the Left box and the ball gets away to the 1st base side the throw comes in and he did not hinder P1 in anyway that's not INT if the runner is safe.  If the ball went behind the batter than yes 

if the ball went straight back I could see an argument for INT but to me it would depend upon placement of the throw and P1 and P2 from where they threw it from

 

[ATXBlue]

@ArchAngel72 then I would say our interps of "adding to the difficulty of the fielder" are different.

 

I may (heavy emphasis on may) give a little leeway to younger players but 12u (competitive league) and up baseball IQ says get out of the way and dont leave it up to the guy in the gear. 

 

 

[ArchAngel72]

1 minute ago, ATXBlue said:

@ArchAngel72 then I would say our interps of "adding to the difficulty of the fielder" are different.

 

I may (heavy emphasis on may) give a little leeway to younger players but 12u (competitive league) and up baseball IQ says get out of the way and dont leave it up to the guy in the gear. 

 

 

Oh I agree  He should be getting out of dodge but I am not gonna penalize some 10yr old who just witnessed a high and tight fast ball  from the 6 foot 12 yr old, and he just soiled his pants and is standing there dumbstruck nearly in tears and neither the catcher nor the pitcher were hindered by him being in the box at the time of the play

 

[maven]

6 hours ago, 834k3r said:

Just like every other ruling in baseball. 

No, I was looking for a more specific "unless." 

We call R3 out for the batter's INT unless there are 2 out. In that case, the B is out: we thus prevent him from coming up to bat the next inning (and R3's run still doesn't score).

[834k3r]

19 hours ago, maven said:

No, I was looking for a more specific "unless." 

We call R3 out for the batter's INT unless there are 2 out. In that case, the B is out: we thus prevent him from coming up to bat the next inning (and R3's run still doesn't score).

Yes, you're correct, of course.

I thought your question was rhetorical.