TwoBits ... runner hit while touching base ... dead ball case?

[UmpireErnie]

Originally Posted by CecilOne

Is the dead ball before passing a fielder criteria just in ASA?

No, same thing in other codes as well.

If a runner is hit by a batted ball while ON a base, and the ball is fair, then one of two things happen:

If the ball has not touched a fielder or passed a fielder other than F1 then the ball is dead, nobody is out, and the BR is awarded 1B. Other runners move if forced.

If the ball passed a fielder other than F1 then the umpire must decide if another fielder had a chance to make a play on the ball if the runner had not been hit with the ball. If so then the call is the same as above, dead ball, nobody out, BR to first, runners move if forced.

But if the ball has passed a fielder other than F1 and nobody else had a play on the ball, or if the ball was touched by a fielder before touching the runner, then you have nothing. In this case I give a “safe” signal and say loudly “that’s nothing, play on!” becuase everyone is going to be pretty sure that it is supposed to be something!

Now, what if the runner is off the base? All of the calls are exactly the same, except that in the cases where you would call a dead ball, the runner who was hit will be called out for INT.