Quote:
Originally Posted by AtlUmpSteve
Granted that this is an NFHS post. That said, I was once privy to an in depth discussion with the then ASA Deputy Director of Umpires who explained the ASA rationale for the same ruling; not protected if headed away, protected if heading back and hindered.
He suggested that hindering a runner moving away from the base that must be returned to actually HELPED the runner in most cases; kept the runner from getting further away, and slowed down the momentum away which helped the change of direction needed to return. He was clear and adamant that this was the basis for that ruling.
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I've had the same conversation, probably with the same person.
All other parts of the discussion aside, to be OBS, the runner must be impeded in his/her (as opposed to "their"
) progress in advancing to the base.
The result of an OBS call is to apply a "penalty" that would cause the play to come to the same resolution had the OBS not occurred. Well, if the OBS had not occurred, the runner would have been that much farther away from the base to which they needed to return to avoid being put out, so the result of the play would still be an out had the OBS not occurred.
This same position was used by the ASA NUS when explaining that a BR being OBS enroute to 1B on a fly ball to the OF is still an out if the fly ball is caught as that would have been the outcome had the OBS not occurred.
So, IMO, this is a HTBT play 'cause I would need to see exactly how the OBS affected the runner. As noted, this is a NFHS play, but I think this reasoning could be applied.