Obstruction

[chapmaja]

One thing I have found about obstruction discussions is a lack of consistency on what level of obstruction occurs.

There is a big different between a runner who has to slightly alter her path around a base (ie, F3 standing on the corner of the base as B1 tries to round the base on a hit to left field) compared with a B1 running into F3 on that same situation and B1 ends up on the ground.

We as umpires need to account for the "level of obstruction" as part of the decision making process. We must also be able to judge the speed of the runner, the level of play from the fielders, and where a ball is hit.

For example, A batter who hits a ball to the LF fence but runs like an injured elephant and gets obstructed at first, may only get awarded first or second. The same hit and same obstruction on a girl who could be a state champion sprint runner would likely result in protection to 2nd or third.

All of these factors need to be accounted for on a play. Not all of these factors can be accounted for the moment the obstruction occurs. We be able to use all of our senses to make the best possible decision as to where to protect an obstructed runner.

All decisions humans make need to take all the available information into play. Sometimes the decisions are easy, other times they are not easy.

[UmpireErnie]

Not sure I agree. Again we are using the example of batter/runner rounding 1B on a batted ball and being obstructed by F3. The award is where batter/runner would be sans obstruction. If the hit was a double, then at the award should be 2B whether she was knocked down or just took an extra step to avoid F3.

[chapmaja]

Originally Posted by UmpireErnie

Not sure I agree. Again we are using the example of batter/runner rounding 1B on a batted ball and being obstructed by F3. The award is where batter/runner would be sans obstruction. If the hit was a double, then at the award should be 2B whether she was knocked down or just took an extra step to avoid F3.

Again, we need to use all the information available, which was my point. What may be a double for one player won't we a double for a different player.

I could hit a ball to the fence and likely would get thrown out at 2nd. A few of the HS girls I umpire could hit the same ball in the same place and it would be an easy double and possibly a triple.

There are so many different factors. This isn't like baseball's WAR statistic that compares fact and fiction. We need to make a call based on everything we know, not the pretend world. If we know runner X is slow, she isn't going to run the bases the same speed as a sprinter would. The speed of the runner is something we can easily see on the play.

It's not fair to say X hit will always be a double because in some cases it will be a single, and in other cases the same ball hitting the same place will be a double or triple, not even considering what the defense does with the ball.

It's easy to say we should be able to award protection to X base simply based on where the ball is hit, but in reality we need to take factors A,B,C, X, Y, and Z all into consideration. Often times we don't even know each factor until after the obstruction occurs because we not be looking at that factor at the moment the obstruction occurs.