2023 Home Plate Collision and Pitcher Declaration
Regarding the Collison at Home Plate rule, the catcher has no restriction when receiving a throw from the pitcher or a drawn-in infielder. The following two plays illustrate those aspects of the rule. Catcher Receives Throw from the Pitcher The Nationals hosted the Guardians on April 15, 2023. In the top of the eighth, the…
High Schools Coming of Age in 2024
The National Federation of High School baseball rules committee has completed their annual meeting and there are some changes ahead for the 2024 season. The evolution of the game of baseball has made electronic communication between coaches and catchers a mainstay at the upper levels of competition, and now high school players will also be…
Brewers Create Time Play
The Brewers and Giants played at Oracle Park on May 5, 2023. In the top of the first, the Brewers had Owen Miller on third and Brian Anderson on first with two outs. Luke Voit was the batter facing Sean Manaea. Anderson took an extended lead prompting a pickoff throw from Manaea. This put Anderson…
MLB Umpires Utilizing Rule 8.02 (c)
The D’backs and Braves played at Truist Park on July 31, 2022. In the bottom of the second, the Braves had Austin Riley on second and Travis d’Arnaud on first with one out when William Contreras hit a drive to left field. Jake McCarthy, the D’backs’ left fielder, “snared” the ball and carried it a…
MLB TO USE PITCH TIMER DURING ’19 SPRING TRAINING
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 22, 2019 MLB ANNOUNCES FORMAT OF PITCH TIMER DURING SPRING TRAINING Major League Baseball (MLB) today announced the format of a pitch timer that will be used during 2019 Spring Training games. No decision has been made on whether the timer will be used in regular season games. A 20-second pitch…
Deflected Balls that Remain in Play (Part 3)
Deflected Batted Ball Strikes the Runner Deflections make for knotty problems since they usually lead to right of way arguments. Whenever a batted ball is deflected off the pitcher or another infielder into the path of the runner, one of three things can happen: The ball can remain alive and in play The runner can…
What Happened to the Baseline?
Major League Baseball rules have changed and there is no such thing as a “baseline” anymore. Major League Umpire, Greg Gibson and Cincinnati Reds broadcaster, Chris Welsh explain how the rule is now about the runners “basepath” in a simple and easy to follow video.
When does a fly ball stop being a fly ball?
When is a Batted Ball No Longer “In Flight” The White Sox and Tigers played at Comerica this past Friday, April 8, 2022. In the bottom of the ninth the Tigers had Austin Meadows on third base and two outs when Javier Báez hit a shot to deep right-field that took right fielder AJ Pollock…
7.01 Regulation Games
(a) A regulation game consists of nine innings, unless extended because of a tie score, or shortened (1) because the home team needs none of its half of the ninth inning or only a fraction of it, or (2) because the umpire-in-chief calls the game. EXCEPTION: National Association leagues may adopt a rule providing that…
