What is the difference between defensive obstruction and offensive obstruction? | Segye Ilbo

In professional baseball, there are subtle judgments about hitting, defense, and fouls. In particular, there are even concerns that ‘miscarriage’ comes out at the moment when it can directly affect the game, and it can pour cold water on the box office of professional baseball.

In the match between Hanwha and LG in Jamsil on the 20th, the referee’s agreement on ‘obstruction of hit’ was recognized as ‘defense interference’ after the match. At the end of the 9th inning when Hanwha and LG faced each other 1-1, no one was on first base. The moment Hanwha Battery detected a stolen base and tried to get the ball out by pitching out, Jung Joo-hyun, who was standing at bat with a pinch hitter, threw a bat at the ball. Hanwha catcher Choi Jae-hoon collapsed after being hit in the pelvis by a bat without throwing to second base. At the end of the agreement, the 4th trial declared ‘obstruction of blow’. Faced with a crisis on first and second base safely, Hanwha finished the inning without giving up a follow-up hit.

There was an official announcement that the decision just before the match was extended to 12 rounds was an error. The KBO referee committee announced, “As a result of additional confirmation, it was ‘defense obstruction’ rather than ‘hitting interference'” and “plans to take follow-up measures such as disciplinary action by the referee.” As the game ended in a 1-1 draw, the misjudgment did not have a decisive impact on the win, but it is still a shame.

The centrifugal judged that right-handed hitter Jeong Joo-hyeon was hindered from batting because Choi Jae-hoon invaded the left-hander’s at-bat during the pitch-out process. In fact, Choi Jae-hoon’s foot crossed the left batter’s at-bat right before the catch. However, the referee judged that if Choi Jae-hoon had already hit normally, he was out of reach of the bat, and the act of throwing the bat may have been a plan to make a foul, but as a result, he was hit by the catcher.

According to baseball rule 6.03 ‘foul play by the batter’, if the hitter hits the catcher (including the mitt) by throwing the bat into the fair or foul area in the presence of runners, the batter is out for foul play. However, according to 6.01 ‘Obstruction, Obstruction (Obstruction of Running)’, if the catcher goes on or in front of the home base without having the ball, or touches the batter or the batter’s bat, both catcher interfere (obstruction of hitting). In particular, if the catcher goes on or in front of the home base without having the ball, the catcher’s inter-pierce is declared regardless of the batter’s intention to hit.

This rule is always applied ambiguously. A similar situation occurred in the game held at Jamsil Stadium on September 8, 2015, but the result was completely different. At that time, Hanwha Kwon Yong-gwan hit the mitt of LG catcher Yoo Gang-nam, who was pitching out, with a bat. At the time, the Hanwha bench claimed that Yoo Kang-nam had come all the way to the home plate to throw the ball, and LG countered that Kwon Yong-gwan interfered with the defense with a deliberate swing. However, the referee at the time declared a ‘foul’.

Reporter Jeong Pil-jae [email protected]

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