Infield Fly Rule?

• Def Leopard

  The basas are loaded with no one out. The batter hits a pop up that the second baseman chases approx. 15 ft. into the outfield where the ball hits his glove and falls to the ground. After runners advance and the play stops, the base ump calls the batter out citing the infield fly rule. His reasoning was that it was a relatively routine play and in his judgement the ball should have been caught. What's the correct call?
• Gblock

  thats the correct call....usually the determining factor can be did the infielder turn his back to the infield as he was going back...if he never turned his back its surely a infield fly rule...if he did turn and run a lot of times they will call it an error if he drops it. but as a coach you dont mind the infield fly rule there because even if he drops it you are giving up an out as most likely the other runners went back to their base anyway.
• Altor

  It is solely the umpire's judgment about whether the fly ball required "ordinary effort" to catch by an infielder. Since that is what he judged it to be, he made the correct call on IFF.
• Def Leopard

  Thanks for your feedback.
• darbypitcher22

  

  You got two pretty good answers there
• Al Bundy

  Did the ump call infield fly while the ball was in the air?
• darbypitcher22

  

  ^^^^^
  
  you know they're supposed to but they don't always do it... I've prompted an umpire to call it while the ball is coming down before lol
• Def Leopard

  No call was made until the play was over. I was also under the impression IFF was called while the ball was in the air. If IFF is called and the fielder misses the ball, can the runners advance?
• Wooball

  

  runners may advance at their own risk
• Altor

  I believe it was a point of emphasis this year that the IFF need not be called during the play in order to be applied properly. The fielders, runners, and coaches are expected to know the rule and when it should be applied.
  
  That said, the umpire really should call it earlier rather than later. The purpose of the rule is to keep the runners from a disadvantage. They can easily lose that protection if they have to determine during a play whether the umpire will eventually rule it an IFF, especially on a borderline "ordinary effort" judgment like you describe.
  
  As Wooball said, runners may advance at their own risk. If the ball is not caught, they do not have to tag up.