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Old Fri Jul 06, 2007, 11:27pm
socalblue1 socalblue1 is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Posts: 387
Your missing a key thing here (One often must hunt through multiple sources. One of the great things about baseball).

On a batted ball that the fielder still has an opportunity to play (Common interpretation is the ball is within a step & reach) he is still protected. Roder holds that once the fielder is unable to play the ball he immediately loses all protection.

Evans takes a more pragmatic view: "An infielder who attempts to field a ball but misses shall be given a reasonable amount of time to clear the runner's path before obstruction is ruled. This is based on umpire's judgment."

Evans:

7.06 Situations: The batter hits a ground ball to the second baseman...he deflects the ball and it rolls several feet from him The runner from first collides with the second baseman as he goes after the ball. Is this interference by the runner? RULING: On the contrary...this is obstruction by the second baseman. Since he had a chance to field the ball but muffed it out of reach...he may not impede the runner. (According to pro interpretations, a fielder still has a right to field the batted ball if it is in his "immediate reach"...the guideline generally used is “a step and a reach.”
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