Deflection
 

FED. R1 & R2. Ball is hit up the middle and caroms off F1's leg. As the ball bounds toward F4, R1 and F4 collide and the ball passes the fielder. Defensive Coach wants a double play because of interference. Offensive coach says that because of the deflection, F4 is no longer protected. Who is correct? I will tell you what was called later.

If F4 is still fielding the batted ball (and not just chasing after a loose ball), then he's still protected. This sounds like the case -- so it's interference.

That part of the rule is the same in FED and OBR.

Whether it's a DP or not depends on the code. In FED (as in the OP), you can get it if a DP is "likely". That's a HTBT. In OBR, only if the interference is willful and deliberate with the intent of preventig a DP -- and that doesn't sound like the case here.

Note that there's a difference between "contacting the fielder" and "contacting the deflected ball" -- the runner is protected from the latter, not from the former.

That interpretation never made sense to me - doesn't seem logical.

Great explaination. I've seen this call missed many times through the years.

The reason the runner is covered on the deflection is because he will not have time to adjust or get out of the way.

He will have time to get out of the way of the fielder who he can see etc.,

Makes sense to me especially is you've seen one of these plays in real time.

Thanks
David

bossman,

Are you thinking along the lines that occur on a tag play? Where once the fielder has touched the ball the runner can legally leave the base to advance. But on the other hand, the fielder(s) on the batted (directly or indirectly) ball has multiple protected chances to touch and field the ball. If on the fly ball/tag play the rules prevent the fielder from delaying the runner's time to advance by intentionally bobbling the ball while he runs closer to the play why wouldn't you protect the runner from a fielder intentially bobbling a batted ground ball in front of a runner to obtain an interference call and a dead ball.

I don't think that is what Bossman means.

What Bob Jenkins was saying is that the fielder is protected on a ball deflected by another defensive player, but not if the fielder actually boots the ball when attempting to field it. If the ball is within a step and a reach, he is still protected, but not if he is chasing after it. That is different than the fielder changing direction and chasing down a deflected ball. In that case, he is still protected from runner interference.