Quote:
Originally Posted by RogersUmp
bossman,
Are you thinking along the lines that occur on a tag play? Where once the fielder has touched the ball the runner can legally leave the base to advance. But on the other hand, the fielder(s) on the batted (directly or indirectly) ball has multiple protected chances to touch and field the ball. If on the fly ball/tag play the rules prevent the fielder from delaying the runner's time to advance by intentionally bobbling the ball while he runs closer to the play why wouldn't you protect the runner from a fielder intentially bobbling a batted ground ball in front of a runner to obtain an interference call and a dead ball.
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I don't think that is what Bossman means.
What Bob Jenkins was saying is that the fielder is protected on a ball deflected by another defensive player, but not if the fielder actually boots the ball when attempting to field it. If the ball is within a step and a reach, he is still protected, but not if he is chasing after it. That is different than the fielder changing direction and chasing down a deflected ball. In that case, he is still protected from runner interference.