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Online now: 3 members: TABLE SETTER 11, TheBop, tomhust; 111 anonymousDiscussion: Runner leaving Base Early
| Posted | Discussion |
| Jan. 23, 2018 baseballbill 137 posts | Runner leaving Base Early Dave: Is before the Pitched Ball reaches Home Plate the same as the Pitched Ball Hitting Home Plate ????? We have differences of opinion in our league. |
| Jan. 24, 2018 B.J. 1107 posts | no... the ball must be hit, make contact with the plate or ground or be caught in the air before a runner can leave the base |
| Jan. 24, 2018 DaveDowell Men's 70 4321 posts | B.J. is pretty close ... A base runner may leave the base after the ball is hit, but before it is caught, so long as he retreats to "tag up" before attempting to advance after the catch ... Tell your "dissenters" not to over-think (if at all) this one! |
| Jan. 24, 2018 baseballbill 137 posts | our problem is: runner leaves on the swing and batter misses the ball, is runner out for being off the base ????? |
| Jan. 24, 2018 DaveDowell Men's 70 4321 posts | baseballbill ... The runner should be called out by rule ... Rulebook §6.13 - C. A runner is called out for leaving his base before the pitched ball reaches home plate, is batted, or touches the ground before reaching home plate. There is no distinction in the rule cited in the previous thread about whether or not the bat and ball connect ... This is a lot like the "stepping out of the batter's box" rule and hitting a foul ball ... Batter is out, fair OR foul ... Again, please have your dissenters read the rule as stated without creating any other limiting or expanding factors ... |
| Jan. 24, 2018 k man Men's 65 326 posts | Sounds like baseballbill wants to know if the ball 'breaks the plane' of home plate as in football instead of making contact with the plate or the ground. |
| Jan. 24, 2018 mck71 Men's 60 344 posts | as an umpire baseballbill, the simple answer is "no" (not runners fault batter can't hit a ball! LOL) |
| Jan. 24, 2018 DaveDowell Men's 70 4321 posts | k man .. I read it (several times) as the dissenter(s) wanting a get-out-of-jail-free-card and not being called out if the batter whiffs ... As mck71 so concisely noted: NO ... |
| Jan. 24, 2018 B.J. 1107 posts | Dave, what I meant by being caught in the air... would be a deep pitch and caught in the air by the catcher...should have added "catcher" |
| Jan. 24, 2018 AncientOne 2 posts | Dave, you confuse me. In the post where you site the rule, you say the runner is out, yet after mck71 post you say he is not out. Kind of murky, if the rule, as sited, is correct, why would the runner not be out? |
| Jan. 25, 2018 DaveDowell Men's 70 4321 posts | That was pretty ambiguous and a poorly worded response! ... Here's the proper ruling: BASE RUNNER IS OUT for leaving early, regardless of what happens next ... Sorry about the prior confusion ... |
| Jan. 25, 2018 mck71 Men's 60 344 posts | AncientOne: my response was to the "swing and miss" post. IF the batter swings at the ball, it is "past the batter" hence if the runner leaves on the swing, he would NOT be out (at least that is what I would call). As k man sated above, I call home plate as you would a goal line in football, imaginary line from the front of the plate straight up. As the ball passes that plane, runner can leave (as I interpret the rule). I would add this caveat (again in MY judgement), IF the batter is in front of the plate, then I call it as it passes the batter which could be before it passes home plate. Again, as an ASA umpire, I translate this to where a batter stands and how I would call balls and strikes without plate and mat (ex. ball crosses FRONT of plate but LANDS outside of plate would still be a strike because it crossed the plate as a strike). Hope I didn't make things worse (and I am sure there are other umpires like BJ who might correct me but this is how I would call it. |
| Jan. 25, 2018 Turbobob Men's 65 71 posts | In our 60 plus local senior league, we enforce the rule as stated in the rule book with the following specific exceptions: The base runner(s)are NOT out if the batter makes a swing-and-miss or a check swing. There is absolutely nothing to be gained by runners leaving the bag early on those two situations. They ARE out if they violate the rule as stated, in all other situations. This has reduced the arguments and game delays in our league. We "self umpire" the games. |
| Jan. 25, 2018 baseballbill 137 posts | Turbobob: Your league is modifying the rule. There is a slight advantage leaving on the swing then on the hit. I think its easier to police if we enforce the rule as stated. Just my opinion. |
| Jan. 25, 2018 DaveDowell Men's 70 4321 posts | Turbobob ...We would disagree that "..There is absolutely nothing to be gained by runners leaving early.." ... Doing so is equivalent to leading-off, which is prohibited, and doing it on every pitch puts another layer of observation required by umpires trying to watch enough things as it is ... For an umpire, it's easier to see the base runner's early departure in my peripheral vision while focusing primarily on the ball and it's location depth ... If he's moving too early, I've got a really easy and automatic "..no pitch, dead ball, base runner is out.." call ... And if I'm the Director, I back that umpire's call about 101% of the time on appeal ... _____ Remember, the ORIGINAL fact pattern stated by baseballbill was very specific on "..before the Pitched Ball reaches Home Plate.." ... This is a no-brainer ... |
| Jan. 26, 2018 marcster13 102 posts | Geez. All the mentioning of "swing n miss" here has me scratching my head. If there are so many swing n misses the softball being played can not be that competitive. Therefore who cares and just have fun. lol |
