Obstruction?

[BigUmp56]

Originally Posted by SAump

I have trouble believing how any fielder diving at a sharply hit ground ball or line drive and continues to lie on the ground will delay the progress of the runner. This example suggests that a prone fielder has committed obstruction by unintentionally delaying the runner's progress. I cannot understand why a runner would not have time to choose an appropriate path around the fielder who was making an attempt to field a baseball and is also protected by another rule, from any collision with a baserunner during that attempt. Does a fielder's attempt end when the ball has passed while he is diving in midair or after gravity has returned him to the ground below?

Obstruction doesn't require intent. A runner shouldn't have to divert his basepath because a fielder has misplayed a batted ball and is now laying prone in the runners basepath. Here's what Rick Roder says regarding obstruction on a batted ball.

Concerning obstruction and a batted ball:

(i) A fielder's "try to field" a batted ball, ends immediately upon missing or deflecting the ball, and such fielder must, in effect, disappear or risk obstruction.


Tim.