Brewers Batter Ruled Out and Manager Ejected. Was It the Correct Call?
okay so you’ve probably all seen this play by now it was the Rockies brewers brewers hitter here is going to lay down a bunt he’s going to fly down the first base line Rocky’s pitcher is going to feeli the ball try to tag the runner he misses him but you’re going to see the Umpire right here he’s going to point and say you’re out and he makes this motion right here and he calls him out Brewers manager Pat Murphy comes on the field ends up getting ejected now the announcers aren’t sure what’s going on here they say that he’s out because he goes out of the runner’s Lane and if we back up real quick here again we’re going to show the runner’s Lane so this used to be the runner’s Lane in between these two lines but they’ve actually extended it now so you can now actually run on this side of the white line on the dirt right there so the announcers think that he’s being called out right here for being out of the runner’s Lane but the runner’s Lane only matters on thrown balls so it really only comes into effect when the catcher feels a ball and he’s going to throw to first or the pitch felds the ball and is going to throw first and on those plays again if the runner is running way in here on the grass then there is the potential for him to be called out for being out of the runner’s Lane but again the runner’s Lane doesn’t matter on a play like this where it’s just the pitcher trying to tag the batter Runner and so I believe that what the call is is being out of the base path and we’ve talked about this in other videos but the base path is created when a tag attempt occurs so here comes the tag attempt right here right so here comes the tag attempt and all you do is you draw an imaginary line from the runner to the base and at that point the runner cannot vear more than 3T outside of that path so people get confused a lot on the bases they talk a lot about the base line it’s not the base line it’s out of the base path and so the question is does he ve more than 3 ft well I’m pretty sure that from Line to Line right here is 3 ft don’t qu me on that but I’m pretty sure that that’s 3 ft and you can see as the runner is running right here right this foot right so here comes a tag attempt this foot’s on the grass so he’s you know a foot or so let’s say on this side of the line and then he goes way over here and at this point he’s on this line and so although it’s really really close technically that’s probably varying more than 3et it’s not much more than 3et but it is technically probably more than 3T again he goes from the grass there all the way out to that edge line of the runnner lane and so I’ve had a ton of people email this to me and say this is a horrendous call but almost everyone is saying that he was not out of the runner Lane but again it’s not a runnner lane ruling it’s a out of the base path and so technically I think it is the right call and this play also isn’t reviewable and here’s another really good view of it right here again you can see see he’s on the grass and now as he feels this tag attempt being applied he says okay I’ve got to get out of here and he goes from again he actually takes a couple of steps on the grass right there and now he’s going to try to get way out here and again there’s his foot hitting the white line there and he doesn’t get tagged and he actually doesn’t touch the base he tries to come back but he’s already been called out so I’m not an Umpire but I believe that’s what the Umpire ruled and I believe he’s technically right so let me know what you think in the comment section below subscribe to the channel hit the notification Bell give a thumbs up all that good stuff and we’ll talk to you later
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29 comments
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Out! Slam dunk call. He couldn’t even reach the bag..
Now the whole country should spend a few weeks glorifying this umpire…just like when they miss a call they are derided…nice work!
The call is right, but there are two points – the first is the runner screwed himself by running on the infield in an attempt to thwart a throw, and the second is they need to change this rule to the runner must be in the runners lane from 45' to the bag.
MO…..bad call.
I think I would be pissed about that call too.
I agree
He made one step out to avoid the tag, bad call
I don’t know how technical this rule is bc the placement the runners feet is 3 feet but the runner also contoured his body to be within the 3 feet to make the fielder miss the tag. In basketball a lot of people think you cross mid court once the basketball reaches but if your whole body doesn’t cross then you can stay in the backcourt.
I agree with Larry Copland. I think he got it right. Where else on the field do you have "lane markers" to help make a decision. If can't do it here then you can't do it anywhere.
Hope the PU is running up behind to see if the tag is placed on the backside. Unless of course he had a runner coming home.
I think 3 feet of the base path is severely limiting. Especially if it is determined to be established by the centerline of the body. than means the distance to the center to the side of the body counts as part of the 3 feet, so the runner can only take a 2 foot step to try to avoid a tag? Absurd. If it is 3 feet from the side of the body, runner is not out of the base path.
I disagree. The majority of the runners body is still within that 3 foot margin. Runner is safe imo. And btw I despise the Brewers
The rule feels imprecise, and the call against its spirit, in the following way. Look at 2:09. The runner's left foot is clearly far to the left of his centre of mass, and you know this because he is pushing off it to move outside. His hips are probably in foul territory at that point, because his next step, with the right foot, is on the line, and he pushes off the outside of that foot. It wouldn't be possible if his hips were in fair territory (try it).
Then at 2:18, his right foot is far to the right of his hips, and you know that because he arrests that outward momentum.
So which part of his body establishes the base path? A foot that is far away from the bulk of his body? That doesn't seem reasonable, because then you have two possible paths, one for each foot.
If you interpret the line as going from e.g. his hips to the base, it's pretty clear that he stays within 3 feet of the base path. His hips definitely don't move 3 feet off line, and even his right foot at 2:18 is not 3 feet out. I'd draw the path from just in foul territory to the bag, where his left foot starts (at least) 12-18" to the fair side of the path, and his right foot later lands less than 3' to the foul side.
To be clear the runner's lane has no bearing on this play. It is only an issue if the batter/runner interferes with a throw and fielder fielding a throw. It is only useful here to tell if the runner deviated more than 3 feet once the tag attempt was made. It was close, but I think the ump got it right. A runner establishes his own base path, but once a tag attempt is made, he can only deviate 3 feet from a line from where he is to the base he is going toward.
These '3 feet' calls this year have been embarrassing
Good diagnosis of a correct call. And, yes, the runner's lane is 3-feet wide.
It doesn't make sense to me to measure the 3 feet by where the runner's pinky toes are. The mass of his body doesn't move more than two feet, I'd call him safe. If you use the location of the feet, all kinds of normally legal slides could be called out. Look up any Javier Baez video and see how many could be called illegal by this interpretation.
What about the play we see occasionally where a runner will leap over the catcher to score? Shouldn’t they be called out for veering 3 feet out of the basepath vertically? The rule book doesn’t specify which direction the 3 feet deviation has to be.
I hate this call. Path path is 3 feet wide, but the rule does not say only part of the body has to be out. The whole body has to be out of the path. Otherwise runners would be out on almost every slide.
The fact that he couldn’t even reach the base should bolster the argument that this is a correct call. But yeah, he definitely veered more than 3 ft from his path. Nice work
If umpires are going to call that running out of the base path then I think there is a ton of inconsistency in the way that play is called. How many times has a runner veered even more out of the base path van in this play and still not been called out?
That’s the ruling I’ve also seen applied is he went out of the base path. Probably a notable moment for the runner to remember in the future to get outside the base line out of the box when dropping the bunt up the 1st base line instead of running up the grass. Likely easier said than done for a lefty batter.
I believe the tag attempt was made at 2:16.
He's well within 3' at that point.
Correct call. The runner was more than 3 feet from his established base path that started on the grass at the time of the attempted tag.
You can’t measure how much he veered by looking at where his left foot was at the start and where his right foot was at the end. Did his body veer by 3 feet? Awful hard to argue for that.
The tag attempt can't start from 6 feet away. I don't know what the right interpretive standard is. Perhaps it should be when the tag attempt becomes credible.
The problem is that this is the only place on the field where the umpire has a pair of lines exactly three feet apart to provide a reference point. He had to make the call; if he didn't the defensive manager would be out there pointing out that the runner's right foot started in fair territory as the tag attempt was made, and was on the runner's lane line later, which is more than 3 feet away.
Personally, without the lines there, I would probably not have made that call. And frankly, I've probably never worked on a field where those lines were actually measured rather than eyeballed by some coach who had to chalk the field that day.
You are comparing his left foot to his right foot. If you compare left foot to left foot or right foot to right foot it is @3 feet exactly. The ump injected himself into a play that did not need him there.
Anyone know why the first baseman doesn't even try cover the bag and is just watching the play?
Good call. The rule was written to accommodate runners rounding bases and already being way off the “base line” between bases. In this case, the runner sets his bath path and then leaves it. The last replay from the back shows it even better, and we see closer to what the ump saw.