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Originally Posted by WestMichBlue
Once again I question the determination of an obstruction base award made at the instant of the infraction, without considering the full field or results of the play.
Sit: R1 on 2B, batter hits pop fly over F5's head and both F6 and F7 chase, but the ball drops between them. R1 holds up on fly ball, starts to run when it drops, then gives up and returns to 2B.
Meanwhile, the B-R rounds 1B going full speed to 2B; bumps into F3 and is knocked off her feet. By time she gets up, the ball is returning to the infield so she retreats to 1B.
BU signals obstruction, decides (correctly) to protect B-R to 2B. At the end of the play he wants to send B-R to 2B - but R1 is there!
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Don't care
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We are supposed to protect the runner to the base they would have reached had obstruction not occured. This runner was physically capable of reaching 2B ahead of any throw. But even without obstruction, the B-R would not have gone to 2B because R2 was still there.
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Not necessarily. If R1 was off the base (remember, R1 did start to 3B), the BR may have continued and drawn a throw which would have allowed R1 to advance (okay, a stretch, but it could happen
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So does it make sense to send B-R to 2B and force R1 to 3B? R1 chose not to advance, and possibly would have been thrown out at 3B because of the close proximity of the ball to 3B. How can we force a runner to advance because we artifically placed an obstructed runner on her base?
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No, F3's action put the player there and I doubt the player who was knocked to the ground would agree there was anything artificial about it.
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PS - just to make it a little more fun - assume that B-R did advance to 2B even while R1 was returning to 2B. Suppose F6 throws ball to F4 who tags both runners on the base and looks at you, the BU. R1 "owns" the base so it is the B-R that would be called out. But she cannot be out due to obstruction. Would you leave B-R at 2B and send R1 on to 3B?
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But this is why we make the call and already have parameters in place. There are too many "what ifs" surrounding plays like this. For example, as the play develops, maybe R1 panics and leaves the base and is retired? Are you still going to move the BR back to 1B because at the time, the BR would not have attained 2B safely? But wait, the runner did reach the base safely, so that reasoning is out the window. What if the ball rolled by F7 and you are thinking 3B as protection, but R1 turned away from the play and never realized s/he could have easily score?
Remember who the offended player is as that is the only person (in this scenario) to which an award can apply. Moving the non-offended runner is basically colateral damage. This is probably the most punitive the ASA obstruction rule can get, but it is standard across the board and I believe for the very few instances where another runner may be an issue, the ruling is fine.
But you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?