Skunk in the outfield play

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May 16, 2012
97
18
Missouri
Hard to tell who has the ball looking at it on the phone but definitely at the very end looks like the defense is trying to tag the runner before throwing the ball home and the runner keeps running into the outfield and not directly to one of the bases. Probably should be called out for being more than 3 feet from the base path at that point as the runner takes a couple of steps toward the outfield and not directly to one of the bases.
was the runner avoiding a tag? if not, then they run zig zag all over the field. No rule states they must run directly to the bag. Now if a fielder has the ball and is trying to apply the tag, then yes, they can only move up to 3 feet either way of the fielder or their established running path. Note, I could not view the video in the OP
 
Jun 6, 2016
2,714
113
Chicago
I'm leery of saying "approaching the runner to tag him/her" because that implies any approach ... such as a fielder chasing behind a runner in a rundown. The key (IMO) is the runner no longer making an attempt to reach a base (either the next one or the last one). That could lead to an abandonment call rather than an out of the base path call (depending on the wording for that ruleset -- NFHS says the runner must enter dead ball territory).

That is a trick to rewriting the rule ... you can't just say "to avoid a tag/play" because that is the runner's job. You almost have to add in a requirement to have an attempt to advance/retreat to a base.

I'm curious about how you might rewrite the rule so that it's simple, but also eliminates silliness.

My first thought was some kind of "Runner can't be in the outfield, except in the case of running through the base at first" type of language.

That wouldn't fix every instance of a runner goofing around, but if they're confined to the infield, it makes it significantly harder.
 

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