Baseball seems like such a simple game, yet the rules are incredibly complex. If you don't enjoy studying baseball rules, feel free to ignore this post. But, for those of you who are interested, let's look at a play that happened during the middle innings of the game against Hickory Hills:
Runner on 2B (R2) with one out. The batter (BR) hits a pop fly to shallow right field. The second baseman (F4) drifts back to the ball...and then drops it. As R2 attempts to advance to 3B, F4 fires the ball past the third baseman (F5) out of play! Now, where do we position the runners?
It's important to understand a few concepts before making the ruling: When a pitcher (F1) throws a ball out of play while in contact with the rubber, the runners are awarded ONE base from where they were at the time of the wind-up. When an infielder (or a pitcher while off the rubber) throws a ball out of play, the runners are awarded TWO bases from where they were at the time of the wind-up. So, in the scenario above, R2 should be awarded home plate and the batter should be awarded 2B. Easy...right? Well, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule!
EXCEPTION 1: If all runners (including the batter) have advanced at least one base before the first play by an infielder, then the base awards are determined by the position of the baserunners at the time of the release of the throw by the infielder. This did not apply in the above scenario as R2 did not make it 3B when the second baseman released his throw.
EXCEPTION 2: This one is a little trickier (and confused our umpire this afternoon). If the throw is the SECOND play by an infielder or any throw by an outfielder, then the base awards are TWO bases from the time of the release of the throw for all runners. The umpire considered the dropped pop up to be the first play on the ball and the throw out of play to be the second play. Therefore, he awarded each runner two bases from where they were positioned at the time of the release of the throw--scoring the runner on second and moving the batter to third base (since the batter had already passed first base).
The problem with this is once again a little tricky. Fielding a batted ball is not considered to be a "play" when applying this rule. A "play" is an attempt by a fielder to retire a runner. The first play was the throw to third--therefore, the batter should have only been awarded 2B on the play as no exception applied and we revert back to the original concepts presented in the third paragraph of this posting (the runners should have been awarded TWO bases from where they were at the time of the wind-up).
Is this confusing enough? Please do not hesitate to call me at 708-349-1467 if you wish to discuss further.
Glenn Nagel
Runner on 2B (R2) with one out. The batter (BR) hits a pop fly to shallow right field. The second baseman (F4) drifts back to the ball...and then drops it. As R2 attempts to advance to 3B, F4 fires the ball past the third baseman (F5) out of play! Now, where do we position the runners?
It's important to understand a few concepts before making the ruling: When a pitcher (F1) throws a ball out of play while in contact with the rubber, the runners are awarded ONE base from where they were at the time of the wind-up. When an infielder (or a pitcher while off the rubber) throws a ball out of play, the runners are awarded TWO bases from where they were at the time of the wind-up. So, in the scenario above, R2 should be awarded home plate and the batter should be awarded 2B. Easy...right? Well, there are a couple of exceptions to this rule!
EXCEPTION 1: If all runners (including the batter) have advanced at least one base before the first play by an infielder, then the base awards are determined by the position of the baserunners at the time of the release of the throw by the infielder. This did not apply in the above scenario as R2 did not make it 3B when the second baseman released his throw.
EXCEPTION 2: This one is a little trickier (and confused our umpire this afternoon). If the throw is the SECOND play by an infielder or any throw by an outfielder, then the base awards are TWO bases from the time of the release of the throw for all runners. The umpire considered the dropped pop up to be the first play on the ball and the throw out of play to be the second play. Therefore, he awarded each runner two bases from where they were positioned at the time of the release of the throw--scoring the runner on second and moving the batter to third base (since the batter had already passed first base).
The problem with this is once again a little tricky. Fielding a batted ball is not considered to be a "play" when applying this rule. A "play" is an attempt by a fielder to retire a runner. The first play was the throw to third--therefore, the batter should have only been awarded 2B on the play as no exception applied and we revert back to the original concepts presented in the third paragraph of this posting (the runners should have been awarded TWO bases from where they were at the time of the wind-up).
Is this confusing enough? Please do not hesitate to call me at 708-349-1467 if you wish to discuss further.
Glenn Nagel
