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Originally Posted by tibear
I think this is where I was a bit confused. I thought that once the defence had touched a batted ball that all defensive players must avoid runners.
So only the defensive player that touched the batted ball has to avoid runners and all other defensive players are still protected to play the ball?
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tibear,
Sorry for confusing the issue. Like I said before, the others are correct that in your play this is interference. What we're discussing here is the transferrence of priveledge from one fielder to another on a batted ball, even one that's been deflected by the fielder you first judged to have priveledge. If another fielder (F4 in your play) has a legitimate chance to retire a runner after a deflection by someone else (F1 in your play), the burden falls on the runner to avoid interference. In other words the priveledge has been transferred from F1 to F4. But, in instances where a fielder deflects the ball himself and begins to chase the ball,
that fielder is no longer considered to be priveledged, and now has to avoid obstructing the runner.
Tim.