As your post questions the application versus the spirit of the rule, you are correct. As an umpire, it is your judgement whether the ball could be “caught with reasonable effort”. Thus, you can cite conditions which may make it unreasonable to catch which often includes wind, sun position, etc. …and at lower levels, the age of the players. We pregame these items on certain fields all the time to be patient on calling infield fly. The players have a responsibility to continue to play, and the batter is typically safe at first if he runs after the ball is hit high enough to be an infield fly…especially if the fielders didn’t move into position to catch it in the air, it would take some time for them to pick it up off the ground from their standing positions.
