Running lane violation?

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by RPatrino

Did you see a running lane violation on this play?

By MLB standards, I would have to say NO.

By NFHS standards, I would say YES. However, I'm going to have to recheck the most recent NFHS interpretations as they have waivered over the years on this issue.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

[MrUmpire]

The action of the batter easily disguised the ball touching his leg. It happens.

No running lane violation. The runner did not, IMO, affect F3's ability to receive the throw.

R3 definitely off the bag. Good "safe" call.

[David Emerling]

Originally Posted by MrUmpire

No running lane violation. The runner did not, IMO, affect F3's ability to receive the throw.

There's two parts to successfully receiving a throw as a first baseman:
1) actually catching the ball, and
2) doing so in a manner to be able to keep your foot on the bag.

I think an argument could be made that the reason F3 wasn't able to keep his foot on the bag was because of the throw. And - the reason the throw was of poor quality was because of F1's attempt to get the ball around the runner who was in-the-way and out-of-the-lane.

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate. Like I said, I fully realize that this is a very rare call at the MLB level and that it usually requires something egregious.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

[MrUmpire]

Originally Posted by David Emerling

There's two parts to successfully receiving a throw as a first baseman:
1) actually catching the ball, and
2) doing so in a manner to be able to keep your foot on the bag.

I think an argument could be made that the reason F3 wasn't able to keep his foot on the bag was because of the throw. And - the reason the throw was of poor quality was because of F1's attempt to get the ball around the runner who was in-the-way and out-of-the-lane.

I'm just playing Devil's Advocate. Like I said, I fully realize that this is a very rare call at the MLB level and that it usually requires something egregious.

David Emerling
Memphis, TN

The quality of the throw is not protected. The rule was devised when the foul line split the bag. It is intended still to protect F3's catch of the ball.

If the throw had been on line, then the B/R would have interfered with the catch. Not the case here.