Quote:
Originally Posted by EsqUmp
The best thing to do is open up, turn toward the outfield and watch the play and runner. NOT sprint into the infield in order to do the same exact thing and have a worse peripheral and a worse position for a call at 3rd (assuming the base ump takes R2 to 3rd).
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Honestly, unless the fly ball is right on the first base foul line, your peripheral vision should EASILY be able to pick up the catch (or first touch) and the runner at 2nd. Also, if the ball is to RCF, getting out of the way of the throw to third is a matter of one or two steps - something we've all done many many times. The only valid point you really made here was the rundown possibility, but I find that possibility to be far less likely than the ball dropping and your proximity to first base mattering.
That said, neither spot is a disaster, and both require awareness and reacting to the play - something that should be easy for anyone with more than a year or two of experience. Given that neither spot is a problem, and one spot is superior more frequently than the other - and the manual tells us to go to that one spot ... I see no reason not to go to that spot.