Obstruction

[youngump]

Originally Posted by umpire12

"First part is that you cannot call that runner out between 2nd & 3rd. What would have happened had the instruction not occurred?"

i think the point he is making is how do you determine what would have happened if the obstruction not occured if you have yet to determine if the ball was even caught yet?

Yes that was my point. The obstruction has already been neutralized by the time the ball is played. And we still have to protect the runner between 2nd and 3rd. But what base are we awarding? Let's say that the ball drops and the runner trips over his own feet and falls to the ground where he's tagged out.
Punitively, we take away the out. But now, we have to decide what base to put the runner on and I'm really not sure quite what to do since absent the obstruction the result of the play would have been an out.