Infield fly

The infield fly is the rule describing certain flyballs when the infielder fails to catch the ball or drops it intentionally. Umpires sometimes consider these balls as caught. That fact causes some questions for the baserunners and batter. If the infielder possesses the ball, the runners will return to their current bases. Otherwise, they advance to the next positions. They study the fielder and run further only if they can return safely. The defensive team has benefits if the umpires call infield fly.

There are two cases when the infield fly rule is active. The play meets that criteria if there are two outs or less and a force play near the third base. A load of bases doesn’t matter. The infielder has to make at least an ordinary effort to get the catch by the umpire’s judgement. The definition of that action varies between umpires.

The umpires also use the definition “catchable by an infielder”. It determines the infielder’s possibility to catch the ball. That explanation means the situation when the fielder catches the shield in the outfield. The official scorer has the right to ignore that rule because the player touched the shield outside the infield borders. There will be the reverse situation if the outfielder enters the infield and takes ball possession. This case, the defensive team gets the bonus working infield fly rule.

There are some difficulties when the task is to determine the infield fly near the foul poles. If the infielder catches the ball in bounds of the fair territory, all’s well.After the infielder fails to catch the ball further landing behind foul poles, the umpire cancels that rule. The game continues according to ordinary foul ball conditions.