Balls hits runner on base

[UmpJM]

SDSteve & mcrowder,

Why do you think 7.09(k) doesn't apply? The very first sentence is:

7.09
It is interference by a batter or a runner when --

(k)A fair ball touches him on fair territory before touching a fielder. ...

Now, that is the exact situation posed in the OP, and 7.09(k) is the most specific rule in OBR pertaining to the OP.

Now the rest of 7.09(k), which talks about exceptions to the basic rule under which the runner would NOT be out, isn't relevant to the OP because the ball was NOT deflected, and, as far as we know, did not go "through or by" a fielder and hit the runner immediately back of him.

I subsequently made the outrageous (to some) assertion that the "through or by" exception could apply, even if the fielder who had the subsequent play was an outfielder rather than an infielder. I wish I hadn't included this statement, not because it is incorrect (I still believe it to be correct) but because it created a tangent to the initial sitch under discussion which seems to have confused rather than clarified the issue at hand. Besides, it's never going to happen - it theoretically could, but it won't.

Taken as a whole, the text of the rules and the Official Interpretations (MLBUM & PBUC) are clear that a runner who is hit by an untouched fair batted ball is out, with the exception of two very narrowly defined situations:

1. It is an IFF AND the batter is touching his base AND does not intentionally touch the ball.

2. The ball has passed between the legs or within reach of a fielder AND hits the runner immediately back of that fielder AND the runner did not intentionally contact the ball AND no other (for now, I'll just say) INfielder had a chance to get a runner out on the play.

JM