infield fly call

[CoogansBluff]

Another infield fly question - How do you define an infielder? What if you station an outfielder in the infield? What if you put your second baseman in short right field and play a shift?

 

[BretMan]

Another infield fly question - How do you define an infielder? What if you station an outfielder in the infield? What if you put your second baseman in short right field and play a shift?

Infielders are defined as the fielders that normally cover the area around first, second and third base. Yes, that is going to involve some judgment by the umpire. But there isn't any "cutoff" line in the rule book, no certain distance where the infielder needs to be positioned to still be an infielder.

 

[MTR]

re: Braves-Cardinals. I'm a Braves fan. As much as I like to disagree, the umpire's call was a fair judgment within the rules. I could argue that it was not ordinary effort (the shortstop was still on the move, and outfielders were closing in and perhaps calling him off). The umpire, from what I understand, made the call kinda late. Which doesn't make it a bad call. The umpire must make an immediate call, but immediate doesn't apply to when the ball is struck, or when it reaches its apex, but rather immediately upon recognizing that an infielder can catch it with ordinary effort. But fact that it took the umpire so long to make that determination is evidence perhaps that it was not routine.

Infield fly ruling disrupts Cardinals-Braves Wild Card game | MLB.com: News

Remember, the decision is usually made, then vocalized followed by the signal.

And define ordinary effort for a player who demands millions to play a child's game. It certainly wasn't extraordinary effort. SS never turned to run, always had his eyes on and kept moving with the ball.