Obs?

[bbman]

Batter hits a little fair popup up the first
baseline. Pitcher attempts to catch, but ball deflects off his mitt up the first baseline. Pitcher retrieves ball a couple feet from where he originally touched it. But now the batter/runner has to run around him. Pitcher picks up ball and flips to first baseman for out. Obs or not?

[Robert Goodman]

This question's been sitting here for days, so it's about time, I, as a non-official, step up to discuss what the issue is here:

When the fielder dropped the ball and it landed beyond the point the fielder first touched it, is that a batted ball that has passed a fielder? Or, as long as the fielder is still trying to play a ball he has a reasonable chance at, is the subsequent action a part of the fielder's first play on the ball?

Is the specification of the ball's location "a couple feet from where he originally touched it" germane? Could the distance up the baseline the ball rolls change an interference call into either a nothing or obstruction?

[bob jenkins]

None of that matters If the pitcher has the ball or is in the act of fielding the ball (even though he deflected it earlier) he cannot* commit OBS.

* absent some act like tripping the runner who is trying to go around him -- these acts "never" occur