In today's video, I'm going
to teach you everything you need to know about the infield fly rule.
This can be a confusing rule in both baseball and softball.
So we're going to cover today everything you need to know
all right.
So first, let's define what is an infield fly rule
and what is it doing for the game of baseball?
What does it prevent from happening?
So the scenario in which the infield fly rule is, is live
is when there's less than two outs.
That means zero out or one out and there's runners on first and second
or the bases loaded in those situations.
If the batter was to hit a pop up in the infield,
the runners would have to stay close to their base
because if they caught the ball and they were too far away,
they would throw it back and then they would be caught in a double play.
There would be double off that way.
So because this is the case that runners have to stay close
basically on the bag when there's a pop on the infield,
smart infielders back in the day probably let these balls dropped
and then would immediately
throw to third, throw to second and get an easy double or triple play.
And everyone's like, hey, that's not really well, that's not really fair.
We're getting screwed over by the own rules of the fact you have to wait
till after they catch the ball to tag and then move to the next base.
So if you're off the base and then catch the fly ball
and they throw it back to the base
before you get there, then you're going to be out.
That's the rule
that keeps you close to the base when there's a ball hit in the air.
So the infield fly rule, the umpire will use their discretion
to call infield fly when they believe it only takes a little bit of effort
to get camp underneath that infield pop up and be ready to make that out.
So they call the batter out automatically as soon as it leaves
the bat, pretty much.
And they say infield fly rule batter is out
and therefore the force out is now dead in the infield.
So now no runners have to advance whether the ball is caught or not.
And so this solves that problem of saying,
hey, now the runners don't have to go anywhere on this pop up
and they're not going to be caught in a needless double or triple play
if the infielders let it drop so whether the infield or let's stop
that pop up drop or catches it, the batter is already out.
No matter what it could drop, the batter still out.
They could catch the pop up, the batter is still out and no one has to advance.
So that at the core of it is why the infield fly rule exists.
It prevents this loophole sort of thing from happening
where every pop up with multiple runners on base in a forced out
situation, it would pretty much always result in a double or triple play.
And that was not good for baseball.
So that's why the infield fly rule and this automatically calling the batter out.
That's why this rule makes a lot of sense.
So real quick, let's summarize before I explain on an actual ball
field let's explain all the preconditions for the infield lateral.
So number one there, there must be less than two outs.
So one out or zero outs,
there has to be runners on first and second or the bases loaded.
The infield fly rule is not in effect with second and third
or runner only on second or runner only on first or runner only on third.
Has to be first and second or the bases loaded.
That's multiple runners where there's a force out situation.
Balls that are subject to the infield fly have to be hit up into the air.
They can't be bunts and they can't be line drives.
Line drives are hit pretty much like a rocket.
Anything that's hit up in the air is going to be available
and the umpires discretion to potentially be called for an infield fly.
Next, the infielder doesn't have to catch the ball for the batter to be out again.
The batter is going to be called automatically out
as soon as the umpire makes this call so the batter doesn't have to run
to first base and the infield could let the ball drop
or they could accidentally let it drop and the runner is out.
The same way.
So the batters out, no matter if they catch it
or they don't, next, all the runners can still advance.
This is why you wouldn't necessarily want to let the ball drop
automatically as an infielder because it might have some weird spin.
It might hit a rock
and it might bounce away where the runners could actually advance to the next base.
So even though the batter is called automatically out,
the runners can still advance at their own discretion if they want to.
The ball is not dead.
So say the runner on first decide, he did want to go off the base
and the pop up falls and it bounces and it hits the runner in the leg.
The runner will be called out
so they can only be safe if they're actually touching the base.
So again, runners have the discretion to leave the base on infield fly,
but they don't have to.
But if they do get touched with the ball while it's in fair territory,
they'll be called out.
And lastly, a fair ball is the only one that can be called for an infield fly.
Foul balls do not apply.
So next, let's go into why an umpire would want to call an infield fly
and why they might say oh, this one is not subject to it.
This can be a little bit tricky to understand.
And the one thing to definitely understand is that an infield
fly rule can be called when the ball's not in the infield.
It can be, you know, ten feet into the outfield.
This is the umpire discretion.
And a ball doesn't have to be sky high.
It can be slightly lower.
It can't be a line drive but let's talk through a couple of the reasons that a
like humpback liner or a short blooper into the outfield wouldn't
be the infield fly rule, but a pop up that makes it into the outfield might.
So the main scenario that we're trying to prevent with the infield fly rule
is this one.
So say it's runners on first and second base and I'm playing short
and there's a pop up hit overhead and there's no one out, right?
So I'm camped under it.
I go, I got it, I got it.
And then being smart, I go, boom, I let it drop.
I run over. I tagged this runner out.
I step on second base and that's an easy double play.
And basically their ending is ruined, right?
So if there's one out, the inning would be over.
And if there was no one out there, basically
the whole threat that they had going is now pretty much dead.
So that's what the infield fly rule is mainly trying to prevent that just cheap,
really easy double play that just doesn't feel right,
doesn't feel like a good part of baseball.
Now, one of the key pieces of language in the actual rule is that the infielder
needs to give ordinary effort to be to basically catch the ball.
So that means if I'm playing short and there's a ball hit in Shallow Left,
which this happens all the time, and I run back and I'm camped
you know, like I'm camped on this one here, the umpire can still call this
an infield fly because with easy, ordinary effort, I'm camped underneath it
and everything.
I just discussed before I can still let this drop,
toss the right the second
and then right to first
for an easy double play or right the third,
the second for a double play that way
so it doesn't have to be in the infield proper.
It can be close basically as long as the infielder is camped underneath it.
Now, this distinction is really important because we don't want to call
the runner out, which is what the infield fly rule does.
When the infield fly rule in baseball or softball is called,
the batter is automatically out, which means none of the runners are now
pushed to the next base via the force out rules.
So we don't want to automatically call a runner out when they hit,
maybe like a humpback liner.
And I may or may not catch it in the outfield.
That's not what the infield fly rule is designed for.
The infield lateral is designed for.
Again, the infielder basically can't go underneath it
where his or the hitter will again,
whether it's baseball or softball, is pretty much a guaranteed out.
But if the out is not guaranteed, like I'm still going back on it
and I might not get there.
That's not ordinary effort.
And the infield fly rule would not apply.
This is why it doesn't apply to bunts, because they happen so fast.
Even if you pop up a bunt, it's going to happen so fast.
That it's not really going to be the situation where you can make
that easy.
Double play and line drives would never be infield fly
because they're hit so hard they're going to be a hit a lot of time.
You would never want to call the batter automatically out
when they hit a line drive or even like a humpback liner.
That's not a pop up.
So as umpires watch this develop, so say it's bases loaded and one out
or first and second and one out, they're going to watch the pop up go up
and they're going to be ready to call infield fly
but they're going to wait and see what happens.
Is it drifting into the corner where they might not catch it?
They don't want to call the batter automatically out
so they won't call the infield fly rule but they're looking for the same thing
I just mentioned, which is isn't in is an infielder camped underneath it?
Are they going to make this play?
Is it pretty much a certain out for the batter?
That's the main distinction
for calling an infield fly rule in baseball or softball.
But you might be asking yourself, why can't we have the infield fly
rule with just a run on first base?
Couldn't we get an easy double play
when there's just a runner on first base and less than two outs?
Well, the answer is no. So let me explain.
When there's only a runner on first this scenario doesn't really happen.
You're like, yes, OK, well, couldn't they just throw out a second or the first?
Yes, hypothetically.
But the batter's job when they hit this pop up is basically to run the first base.
That's their only job at that point.
They could certainly be super lazy and just walk and knock it down here.
But in almost all scenarios, the runner is going to get to first base,
which means if they let the pop up drop at most,
they're going to flip it to second to get me the base runner out at second base
or I'm just going to retreat and be right here.
And if they catch it, I'm here.
If they let it drop and they toss the second I'm out
and now the runner or the hitter
my place.
So when there's only a runner on first, it's really just a human exchange.
Either I'm out and the and the runner and the batter is safe at first
or the batter is out and I'm safe at first if they drop the pop up.
So there's no real scenario.
The only scenario in which you get a double play
on a dropped pop up with a run out first is if the batter just does not run
and they realize this
and then they toss the second and throw the first to get both of us out.
But again, unless you're your batter is a terrible person,
that's not going to happen.
So hopefully this
explanation of the infield fly rule, which exists both in baseball
and in softball, was helpful because obviously this can be
a confusing rule, especially for beginner players and coaches,
and especially if you're watching Major League Baseball or something on TV
where you might say, hey, why is that batter
not allowed to run on first base when they hit the ball in the infield?
What's the deal? What's going on?
This rule makes a lot of sense
because, again, it just prevents a team's really strong offensive inning.
You know, first and second one, our bases loaded, No one out.
It prevents that inning from getting
pretty much destroyed by one pop up where the infield could play.
You know, they could play it
smart, let it drop and get an easy double or triple play.
We don't want that to happen.
That's the reason that the infield fly rule exists.
So it prevents the force out situation on balls that are hit high in the air
where ordinary effort is what's needed to catch this ball.
So basically the infielders camps
and it's not going to be a problem to catch that pop up.
Therefore, the the offensive team, the batting team shouldn't be penalized
every time they hit a pop up when there's multiple runners on base.
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