This is from Jaska/Roder “The Rules of Professional Baseball.”
If an infield fly is improperly declared due to the lack of conditions in 3(a) above or because the batted ball was a bunt (aspects of the rule not requiring umpire judgment), the batter is not out. Both teams are required to know that the fly was not an infield fly, even though it was declared as such. The declared infield fly is nullified due to the impossibility of its existence, and the play stands.
A fly ball that meets all the requirements for an infield fly, but is not declared as such, is not an infield fly. Resulting action is allowed; however, the umpires should not allow a double play that the infield fly rule was intended to prevent. [NFHS 10.2.3g] [NCAA 2-48]
I think this is a fairly new interpretation for high school. I bet there are many high school umps who don’t know this so what not throw the ball to the 1B and have him tag the batter/runner just in case?
I bet that most major league players would fail a test about the nuances of the Infield Fly rule. In fact, I wonder how many major league players who were on base during an infield fly and then saw the ball dropped by the fielder would take off running to the next base?
High school rules are a different thing, though. I’ve seen a high school ump call the runner out, can this be a good call? I thought you only send him back to the previous base.
The go to answer is to tag both the runners and let the umpire sort it out. But if the defense knows which runner will be called out, he should tag the other runner and say, ”
You’re out.” Maybe he will move off the base and you’ll get a double play.
Yeah, I always thought that if the runner made a sudden move toward 2B, that would put him in jeopardy. What if he makes a move but doesn’t;t actually gain ground towards 2B. Does that count?
Unfortunately, when you see a checked swing at a game, you hear someone yell, “he broke his wrists” or “his bat passed the front of the plate.” I know the rule describes a swing as the batter making an attempt to offer at the pitch, but umpires have to use some physical guidelines. I’d like to know what different umpires use to judge whether a batter actually makes an attempt to hit the pitch. Thanks.
