Infield Fly - F7 runs in from LF to the edge of IF

[Don Mueller]

Originally Posted by johnnyg08

R1 & R2, 0 out

windy day, B1 hits a fly ball that ends up falling about 6 - 10 feet from the edge of the infield onto the outfield grass. F7 calls F6 off and makes an attempt at the catch and does not make the catch (no intentional drop)...according to my interpretation in OBR about an outfielder who sets up as an infielder versus running in on a play from the standard LF position changes the Infield Fly rule to where it wouldn't be ordinary effort if F7 had to run in significantly to make a catch as was the case here. What do you guys think? Can an outfielder running in from his position qualify for Infield Fly?

It makes no difference how far F7 had to run in to make the play. If you feel F6 could have made the play with ordinary effort it should be an IFF.
As CoachJM stated in another thread, the intent of the rule is to protect the offense from a cheap DP. R1 and R2 are forced to stay very close to their bag in this situation and if the ball is dropped, intentionally or not it's fairly easy to turn the DP. You don't want to be rewarding the defense for screwing up. If it's a texas league bloop then it's not IFF, but if F6 was set to make the catch and F7 was overly aggressive in calling him off then it's definitely IFF.