Remember the intent of the regulation while deciding whether a fly ball should be considered an infield fly. If a fielder in a "infield fly scenario" can let a fly ball to fall undisturbed and potentially turn an easy double-play, the hitter should be called out. On the other hand, if the ball was hit with enough force to make it past any of the fielders, even if they tried in vain to catch it, then it is an automatic double.
In addition to these criteria, there are several other factors that may influence the umpire's decision on whether to call a player out for an infield fly. For example, if the batter hits the ball toward one of the short corners of the field but it is able to be tracked down by another fielder before it reaches the wall, this would be considered a fair ball. However, if the same fly ball was caught by the same fielder but instead landed in the opposite corner of the field, this would be considered an infield fly because it could have turned into a double play.
Finally, if a fly ball is hit directly at a defender who cannot avoid it, this is considered a fair ball regardless of where it lands.
These are just some of the many factors that may affect the call made by an umpire during a game.
The basic idea for calling the batter out on an infield fly rule is to protect runners on base against a team that allows a shallow fly ball to drop in with the purpose of producing a force play that would not happen if the ball was caught in the air. Because of this, runners are required to retreat 5 feet (1.5 m) when the pitcher takes his full windup motion. If they do not, they will be considered out.
In addition, if the batter does not react to the ball in the air, then he has no chance of being able to go all the way around to hit it and therefore should not get put out. Last but not least, if the umpire believes that the batter could have avoided being out by running faster than he did, then he has the right to call him out.
An infield fly is a fair fly ball that can be caught by an infielder with ordinary effort when first and second, or first, second, and third bases, are occupied before two outs.
For the purposes of this regulation, the pitcher, catcher, and any outfielder who stations himself in the infield on the play are considered infielders. When it appears that a hit ball will be an infield fly, the umpire must quickly announce "infield fly" for the runners' advantage.
(Complete Explanation) The infield fly rule is a one-of-a-kind rule in baseball. It is a regulation intended to prevent the fielding side from deceiving runners and making a double or triple play off of what should be an easy pop out. The infield fly rule is a decision made by umpires based on a few key aspects of the action at hand. If an umpire believes that a player is attempting to deceive him or her with the ball being put into play at a location other than where it landed, then he has the right to call for the batter to stop running and review the situation.
There are two parts to every infield fly rule violation: 1 the ball was in play; and 2 the batter attempted to get away with something. Even if you can't see the act that prompted the call, if the umpire feels like it was done with intent to deceive then you have violated the rule. There are many times when runners are able to get away with things during their attempts to advance bases, but there is nothing in the rule book that allows this. By adding some leeway in these situations, umpires hope to minimize the number of accidents caused when players try to stretch hits into doubles and triples.
The first time that an infield fly rule came up during a game was in 1947. At the time, there were no runners on base, so no one had been deceived by the action of a fielder.
The outfield fly ball A ball that hits or ends up on the plate is no different from any other batted ball. The relationship of the ball to the foul line at the instant it first reaches the ground, or where it first contacts a fielder, determines whether an outfield fly ball is fair or foul. This depends on how far back the ball was hit.
If the ball is hit directly back toward the infield, it is considered a fair ball and anyone can catch it. If the ball is hit into the air, however, it is considered an out-of-bounds pass and cannot be replayed for an error. An outfielder has no way of knowing if a ball was hit into the air until it lands.
Since all balls have some degree of irregularity, it is impossible to say in advance what part of the field the batter will get to first. He could hit it anywhere and it would be a fair ball. But since he got a good pitch to hit, he probably wanted to do something more than just get on base. So he made every effort possible to hit it somewhere other than where it naturally went - and knocked it out of the park!
In conclusion, a fly ball is fair if it is hit into the air; otherwise, it is foul.
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