flyball

Question
runner on first, no outs.  fly ball center field.  ball hits the fence, spinning outside the park.  ball is caught by the fielder and the runner on 1st is now called out because he's standing on  third the the hit is considered to be a catch.  so the batter is out.  Is this the correct call?

Answer
Hi Mike,

Thank you for your question!  In your scenario the rulings made on both the batter AND the runner were incorrect.  The moment that the batted ball hit the outfield fence it could no longer have been caught as an untouched fly ball.  Since it didn't first deflect off a defensive player, it could only have become a caught ball like one that had already struck the ground.  The offensive coach had the right to PROTEST this call due to a rule interpretation error by the umpire(s).  The umpire(s) should have rectified their errors and: 1) not called out the batter 2) not called out the runner and 3) placed both the batter and the runner at the base they would have reached had the umpire(s) not ruled the batted ball an out when it was caught by the outfielder after hitting the outfield fence.

Scott Kelly