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4 replies

Assisting Batter/Runner After Home Run

A aliopoMember
Looking for comments to the following situation.
In a recent game the batter hit a home run. When the batter/runner reached home plate he jumped over the plate (missing home) and into the crowd of awaiting teammates. The teammates and the first base coach realizing he had missed the plate turned the batter/runner around and pushed him back towards home plate which he then touched. The opposing manager questioned the umpire that the batter/runner should be called out because he received assistance. The umpire agreed and called the runner out. The call was later overturned by a protest. The protest committee said that the umpire misapplied the rule of assisting a runner. My 2 questions are do you feel the runner should have been called out for assistance, and is this not a judgment call and therefore not open for protest? Thanks for any responses.
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Michael S. TaylorMichael S. Taylor1,000+ posts
No and no. Players can't create an assist call. This is why it is protestable because it is a mis-application of a rule.
There is a thread on here, I think, that discusses whether a balk is a judgment call or rule interp. It can be either, depending on what was called.
In your OP there is no question on either side of the equation whether the runner was assisted. The question is was the assist illegal or not. That is protestable.
jjkjjk500+ posts
That wasn't an assist, that was a chest bump that turned him back to HP and a pat or two on the back that seemingly propelled him towards the plate.

Assisting a runner is reserved for live ball situations in which the assist is real and could be making a difference in the outcome of the play.

This play would have the same outcome, whether the runner was touched or not, he would have touched regardless of the contact.

But coaches, keep your players away from HP on these plays, no reason the celebration can't wait until the runner clears the plate area.

Good to hear your protest mechanism works..

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