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Originally Posted by reccer
Sitch is identical to the op, except substitute first baseman for catcher and first base for home
Runner is within a step or so when first baseman receives ball.
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Reccer,
Lemme jump in here. And simply ask, was the runner impeded or obstructed.
Know that just being in the way without the ball does not necessarily mean that the runner was obstructed.
As always, go to the book and start with the definition of obstruction in Rule 1 for ASA. Then go to the points of emphasis for obstruction - is that 34? maybe #35?
To address the original question WMB raises, I do think that making "looking for obstruction" a priority is mental. We used to be taught that the priority was our positioning, watch for the tag, and oh yeah, there may be obstruction. Now, look for obstruction before looking for the tag - that's a change in priority, so that's a mental change that needs to be made.
I suspect I pretty much line up with Tom on obstruction. I need two things in order to call obstruction.
First, I need a defensive player without the ball and in the chosen path of a runner.
Second, and equally important, I need the runner to be impeded.
If I have one of those items and not the second, I do not have obstruction - period. It's that simple. Let's not make this more difficult than it needs to be.