Foul ball w/ 2 strikes - slow pitch
 

I saw the other foul ball with 2 strikes thread and it reminded me of a comment I heard a couple of weeks ago that I just dismissed at the time but then put some more thought into after the fact.

With less than 2 outs and 2 strikes, the batter hits a long fly ball that is two-thirds of the way down the left field line (from the bag to the fence). The left fielder gets to the area where the ball is coming down and is tracking the ball and setup to make the catch, but at the last second moves to let it drop foul. The call was foul ball, batter is out, but otherwise it is treated like any other foul ball (ball is dead, no runners can advance). The comment that was made was that if the fielder intentionally lets a foul ball drop, the runners could still advance on a foul ball in that situation. Like I said, I just dismissed the comment since it seemed like a player making a silly argument so that his teammate at 3rd could have been able to tag up and score (which he would have easily had the ball been caught). I did later wonder if there ever was something like this that was allowed.

The batter is out. There is no penalty. This is smart defense: the batter has failed to hit a fair ball on his third strike. Even if the fielder intentionally lets it drop, how can runners advance? It is a foul ball.

A bit like the coach who recently wanted a runner to be forced at 2nd after she touched and passed it, because the fielder was still on the base holding the ball. :rolleyes:

Allowed to drop foul is indeed smart defense.

I recall something about intentionally dropping a foul ball in that situation. Fielder is about to catch it and a teammate yells to let it drop. He can't process the information fast enough - he sort of catches it and drops it like a hot potato. Allow a tag up on that?

Maybe. If he demonstrated control and a voluntary release, it's a catch. Have to be there, but could go either way. I'm leaning towards a drop/foul ball if the fielder is confused and only "accidentally" sort of catches it before the drop.

No.

Fielders do the same thing in baseball where they would rather have a foul ball than a sac fly.

Appreciate all the responses and I know it is smart defense. My question was if there has ever been anything like this allowed. A rules historian I am not, but I thought there might be others that could let me know if at some point this was allowed. It was an older gentleman that said it, so I thought at some point in his past it might have been allowed.