Obstruction?

[SAump]

Originally Posted by bob jenkins

During some training session last year, we watched some video and it had this play in it from an MLB game. F5 (or F6) dives for a batted ball, misses it, and R2 (nearly) immediately is diverted to go around. When the tape was stopped at this point, most of the senior umps in the room ruled obstruction. When the tape was started again, so did the ML umpires. They could have been wrong, but that is what they ruled.

Stopping the tape at this point takes the pressure off the base coach to send the runner onto the next base. So a runner is still thrown out at the plate, all part of the game. Blame the base coach and reward the throw and catch that followed. Naw, rather bail OUT the runner for his unsuccessful attempt to reach the next base safely by introducing the RULEBOOK to protect the base coach's poor decision. Lah me.

I will admit Bob, this is the type of information that I had no clue about and as another poster recently admitted to the rest of us about the need for changes, "Until then, I'll conform." It just seems like the fielder is NOW penalized for his effort to do his job correctly, which is to always try to field the ball, succesfully or NOT. The batter was already awarded a hit or reached base on a fielder's error, increasing his OB%. Obstruction on R2 into 3B is protected, yes, but to HOME?