Blocking the plate

[jdmara]

[QUOTE=Fritz]

Originally Posted by David B

So, must you have contact before the ball gets there to have OBS? See a lot of young catchers setting up for a throw by standing in the base path and hoping the ball gets there before the runner. When it does, they turn and tag the runner coming in. Then OC argues that the catcher was blocking the plate before the throw and we should have OBS even when the throw beats the runner by a few steps.

Contact is not a necessity for OBS to occur. It's the judgment of the umpire in the end that decides if OBS occurred.

-Josh