[mcrowder]

No, Tom. You're not reading this right at all. No effort doesn't negate anything.

I was only trying to make the point that we should not make the decision about whether a ball will be catchable until it reaches the apex. Not just because it gives us a better read on where the ball will actually land, but also because it gives us a better read on whether the fielders will be in position to make a play with "ordinary" effort.

I think a lot of people are reading more into my comments that I intended. I ask you to reread the above paragraph. I don't mean to say we should assume a non catch because the fielder sucks. If the fielder is (or can reasonably be expected to be) at or near where the ball is going to land, call the IFF. In the initial post, the ball was landing somewhere that original poster might not have expected the fielders to get to if he'd checked their actions and positions at the time of the ball reaching the apex instead of just at the time of the hit.

But if no fielder will be able to catch the ball, based on the information available to you when the ball is reaching it's apex, don't give them the free out.