Quote:
Originally posted by Bandit
With NFHS taking the height rule out of the equation would you agree that when a foul ball is hit off of the catchers gear and still controlled this should be an out ? Off of the umpires gear, no. I have been asked to think of it this way....from the past...if a player turned to bunt and fouled the ball straight up, over the batter head, and it came to be trapped between the catchers mitt and chest protector and she then demonstrated control of the ball with her mit or bare hand...didn't we have an out for a foul ball ? So if you take the height requirement out, shouldn't we have an out for the ball that knows go directly from the bat to the protector and is then caught ?
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You're looking at this the wrong way, IMO. The "higher" phrase was removed because it was redundant, not because they were changing what was and is a foul tip and a foul ball. The operative requirement is "directly from the bat..." A ball that goes straight up is not going directly from the bat to anywhere except the top of its flight path.
Definitionally, a batted ball that goes directly from the bat to the catcher's equipment and is caught is a foul ball. (Unless they completely deleted item g. from the definitions while they were removing the "higher..." phrase).