A runner is on third base, and is hit by the batted ball while still on the bag. The ball bounces into fair territory, is ruled a fair ball, and the runner runs home. The fielding team argued that the runner should be out because he was hit by the batted ball, and the batting team argued he shouldn’t be out, since he was on the bag. I think he shouldn’t be out, but want to know the correct ruling.
I think the ball hit the runner on the fly. Would it make a difference if it was a ground ball?
Would it make a difference if the ball bounced into foul territory after hitting the runner instead of fair territory?
Does it make a difference whether the ball is in fair or foul territory when it hit the runner?
This is from my son’s coach-pitch game, so I don’t know if there even is a complete set of official rules. I suspect they only have the differences from “standard” rules written down. I’m hoping the relevant rules are uniform between the high school, little league, college, and the majors. If the rules differ, I’d like to know that too.
A thorough examination of Rule 7 doesn’t shed a lot of light on it. 7.08(f) declares a runner is out when a ball touches him in the field of play before it has touched or passed an infielder, but a runner struck by an infield fly while on his base is safe (the batter runner is out.)
If the runner made no attempt to get out of the way of the ball, or intentionally tried to deflect the ball, he’s out for interference.
That assumes there was enough reaction time to make an attempt; if the runner was hit by a line drive, there probably wasn’t.
A line drive is not an infield fly, so that rule won’t work.
What can a runner standing on base be called out for other than interferance?
Assuming that the runner was struck on a part of his body that was over fair territory (see below), and that the ball hadn’t yet passed an infielder, the runner is out.
This would be unlikely to come into play in professional baseball, since runners are leading off when the ball is hit, but if it did, standing on the base does not provide protection. A runner struck in fair territory by a batted ball, which hasn’t yet passed a fielder, is out.
No.
No, all that matters is where the ball struck the runner. The base itself is in fair territory, but it’s possible to be standing with one leg on the base and the other in foul territory, and if such a runner were struck on the “foul” part of his body, he wouldn’t be out. The ball would be dead and foul.
I agree with Freddy the Pig so I won’t reiterate that. The rule regarding infield fly mentioned by brianjedi refers actually to an Infield Fly, which relates to the Infield Fly Rule, and we don’t have enough info about the situation to know if that applies in this case (outs, men on base, local rules).
I have a copy of the official rule book for Little League, which are basically MLB rules verbatim with some extra stuff covering different levels of play. Local little leagues establish their own local rules, which is just documenting differences from the national rules. I had to pull this book out at a game last season to show the other coach that my baserunner was not out when he was hit by a batted ball because it went through (though was not touched by) one of his fielders first.
I’m not saying that you’re saying that; I’m just saying that we don’t know if it applies, and also to clarify the issue for anyone who read your post and thought, “Oh, the runner was safe because it was a ‘fly’ to the ‘infield.’” All real friendly-like
I didn’t see any answers addressing the question of what happens if the runner’s in foul territory and gets hit, it dribbles off him and lands in the coaching box?
Last I heard,the runner isn’t penalized and the batter gets a strike added to the count (unless he had two on him already). And this is why guys on 3rd lead off in foul territory - at least that’s what Mel Allen told us, again and again, and again. (And please, don’t nobody start him on the infield fly rule.)
But what if the 3rd base runner’s in foul territory, the 3rd baseman is playing deep, and a liner hits the runner, bounces off and lands in fair territory before it passes 3rd base? He scoots back to 3rd and the batter beats the throw to first.
Do we have men on first and third, or is this just a foul ball? Of course, if the batter had less than two strikes, he now has at least one - or even two - on him. Correct?
Same as above, but the 3rd baseman charges, expecting a bunt. The liner hits the runner in foul territory, bounces and again lands in fair territory before the ball passes 3rd? Is it a fair ball? I should think so. The ball got past the fielder.
So what constitutes the ball passing an infielder? Is it distance from home plate compared to the nearest infielder? Any infielder? Within catching distance? (I don’t know where the infielders were, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the infielders were in front of the baseline.)
Like so many things in baseball, there is an element of judgment here. The rule book says,
In general, the runner is supposed to get out of the way of batted balls. The fact that one of the infielders might be microscopically closer to home plate doesn’t matter. But once a fielder goes for a ball and misses, the runner is clear. It’s hard to say more without seeing the play in question.
Of course, now I’m curious what happens if a runner get hit sufficiently hard to knock him out cold, but with part of of his body resting across a base.
There should be a set of rules specific to this coach-pitch league…so I cannot clarify the ruling for the specific case presented. However…
In Major League Baseball’s official rules , rule #7.08f states:
This was (well…still is) also the applicable rule when I played baseball in high school and other leagues as a teenager. Coaches told us to always lead off in foul territory while on 3rd base. A player hit by a batted ball in foul territory would not be out. The ball would be ‘dead’ at that point and count as a foul ball even if it entered fair territory after hitting the runner. Unless ‘infield fly’ rule comes in effect (a whole different circumstance), it makes no difference whether or not a runner is touching third base. All that matters is whether or not the runner’s body was struck by the ball in fair or foul territory.
It all depends on whether or not he was struck in fair or foul territory.
In a nutshell, if a runner is in contact with the base, he’s considered the same as the base. Unless he deliberately does something to interfere with the batted ball, the result of the play would be the same as if the batted ball had directly struck the base.
Great, that’s just what I wanted to hear! Thanks, Clothahump! <runs off>
Just kidding, everyone.
Freddy the Pig, thanks for the quote, which I’m requoting below (bolding mine)
The bolded part seems to contradict the first part. How is that interpreted? Say there’s a runner on second, and third base is playing in (maybe he’s worried about a bunt). The ball is hit between third and short, goes under the third baseman’s glove, and hits the runner, but could have been fielded by the shortstop if it hadn’t. Is the runner safe or out?
I think we’ve done that one to death. I wanted to add that the only time it can be an infield fly would be if the umpire has announced, “infield fly” or “infield fly if fair”. Ordinarily, an infield fly is in play, but if it should hit a baserunner, that runner is safe, the ball is dead and the batter is out.
Here is a scenario that I think could actually happen, although I have never seen it. A runner on first, the first baseman holding him on (and so right by the base), a soft line drive that the first baseman can catch while touching first. The runner had better be on the bag too, else he is out when the ball is caught (ok, technically when the first baseman appeals to the umpire since that is an appeal play accorinding to the rules, but in practice the umpire calls it automatically). So the first baseman, runner, and ball all arrive at the same time and there is certainly a danger of the runner getting hit by the ball. Of course, if he is hit, the batter will go to first instead. It could happen at any base, but normally no fielder is close enough to a base for it to be likely.
Agreed; I noticed that also, as I was pasting in the quote. Sports rules have a way of doing that!
I don’t want to expound too much here, because I’m not an umpire, and ball-hitting-runner plays are so rare that one doesn’t accumulate a lot of observations.
But the spirit of the rule is that (a) runners have to get out of the way and give the defense a clear chance at batted balls; but (b) once the defense has had such a chance, the runner is protected.
If a ball actually got under the third basemen’s glove–in other words, if it was untouched only because of a misplay–I would expect the runner to be called safe. The runner has to run somewhere, and he can’t anticipate a misplay.
But if there’s no misplay involved–say there’s a tweener between short and third, third basemen dives but it’s out of reach, and shortstop still has a shot–I’d expect the runner to be called out.
But again, I’m extrapolating from a small number of data points.
There is no specific rule stating so, but this question was put to major league umpires in the “Ask Hal the Referee” column in the Sporting News several years ago. The answer given by the umpires was that a fielder can’t make simultaneous putouts. That is, with a runner off the bag, the fielder can’t retire two runners at once if he’s standing on the bag when he catches the soft liner. One putout must precede the other. The putout of the batter on the caught batted ball takes precedent over touching the base, so the batter is out. The fielder then must step off the bag & retouch it to retire the runner before the runner returns to the bag. This is a time play & is not an appeal play.
