You make the Call?

[brentwalker]

Baserunner from second attempting to move to third gets hit by a batted ball. What is the call and how do you score it?

for additional information see below:
10.05 Base Hits
A base hit is a statistic credited to a batter when such batter reaches base safely, as set forth in this Rule 10.05.
(a) The official scorer shall credit a batter with a base hit when:
(5) a fair ball that has not been touched by a fielder touches a runner or an umpire, unless a runner is called out for having been touched by an Infield Fly, in which case the official scorer shall not score a hit;

[jcbeckman]

Runner is out, batter credited with a hit. This just happened a day or so ago in spring training (runner hit going from 1st to second).

[brentwalker]

Yes that is my call as well and yes I had to look it up just to make sure as it recently happened in one of our games. There is actually two rules in play here, one for the batter and one for the runner. 7.08f is for the runner, it states that the batter is out when: (f) He is touched by a fair ball in fair territory before the ball has touched or passed an infielder. The ball is dead and no runner may score, nor runners advance, except runners forced to advance. EXCEPTION: If a runner is touching his base when touched by an Infield Fly, he is not out, although the batter is out.

The interesting thing here is if the fielders are playing in prevent fashion to keep a run from scoring and the ball hits a runner behind the fielders, it is NOT an out and the hitter still gets a hit assuming he reached 1st safely.

[coop85]

The interesting thing here is if the fielders are playing in prevent fashion to keep a run from scoring and the ball hits a runner behind the fielders, it is NOT an out and the hitter still gets a hit assuming he reached 1st safely.

Good luck with that one with most umps! I've politely explained it twice to umps and ended each time with "fine, please read the actual rule when you get home." Oh, well.

[Bryan D Shepherd]

Coop and Brent:

As an experienced umpire, I can say this one from experience. Umpires do not like to be showed up, but most good umpires would like to get a rule question correct. My advice would be to keep a rule book handy in the dugout. All of the coaches in our league do, as well as the pressbox in the off chance that the coaches do not have one. I have looked up rules on more than one occasion (mostly the rule about leaving base too soon in baseball. I was trained in softball which is an automatic dead ball, no-pitch, and the runner that left early is out immediately. The one with baseball confuses me sometimes). However, please be aware that there is somewhat of a judgement aspect to this rule. The ball IN THE UMPIRE'S JUDGEMENT must've passed a fielder before hitting a base runner, and judgement calls are not-negotiable, and the rule states that arguing a judgement call with an umpire is an automatic ejection (although, I've never personally done it).

[tystick12]

(5) a fair ball that has not been touched by a fielder touches a runner or an umpire, unless a runner is called out for having been touched by an Infield Fly, in which case the official scorer shall not score a hit;

So, just to clear things up;
Runner on 1st & 2nd. Batter smashes a hard liner right off the shin of the umpire behind the pitcher. Ball is deflected and eventually fielded by the 1st baseman. Batter reaches safely and runners are both held at 2nd & 3rd respectively. Play was ruled a hit, and I was just ticked that the umpire cost me a run or more. (sorry about the welt to the shin).
Was all scored correctly?

[Bryan D Shepherd]

Looks good to me. Here's the rule of thumb, would the runner have gotten a base hit anyway had the umpire not deflected the ball? Answer is yes, so the play should be scored a hit.

Why was the umpire behind the pitcher?

[danmcc]

Looks good to me. Here's the rule of thumb, would the runner have gotten a base hit anyway had the umpire not deflected the ball? Answer is yes, so the play should be scored a hit.

Why was the umpire behind the pitcher?

Behind the pitcher is a typical spot for the field umpire in our area when a runner is on second, typically slightly favoring the SS side.

[Bryan D Shepherd]

Ah, when I saw behind the pitcher I thought he meant literally behind the pitcher. Not on the 400 foot field field umpire. I primarily work on the 200 foot field, and the field umpire is never in front of the fielders, even with runners on.