[josephrt1]

Hi Steve,

Looking at what you and Tru_in_Blu said, this would be a live ball. Looking at every citation in the ASA book related to on-deck batter, they only call a dead ball & runner out if actual interference with the ability to make an out. No citation calls for a blocked ball call. So let me ask you a follow up questions:.

lets say the ball hits the ODB the same way as in the original post with no play obvious at the time and the secondary runner was all the way back at the 3rd base bag. Now the ball deflects off the ODB and skips away allowing the runner to score. if the ball hadn't hit the ODB, it would have stopped at the backstop and catcher would flip to the pitcher. Maybe get the out or maybe runner doesn't attempt to come home. What would we have in this situation? It sounds like form your post that the ODB had a right to be there, did not interfere, so now we have a live ball which could lead to another run.

I'm not arguing with you, just following the thought through and i can't find a rule citation to counter you with. But i don't like the idea that an ODB can get close enough to get hit by a errant ball and not be penalized.

Thanks