Lots of folks have asked questions about the infield fly rule in baseball. It makes for a pretty interesting conversation.

First, realize the rule HELPS the hitting team does not punish them. Here is why...

When a batter hits a FAIR pop fly playable by an infielder and there are runners on 1st AND 2nd base at the time of the hit OR bases loaded AND there is less than 2 out, the umpire shall invoke the INFIELD FLY RULE and call the batter out, regardless of whether the ball is caught or not.

By calling the batter out, that removes the requirement for the base runners to run but they can still advance at their own risk. If the pop-up is caught, the tag up rule will apply.

Why this silly rule? Well, it's not really that silly. Let's think about it. If there is one out and you have runners at 1st and 2nd and a batter hits a pop-up to the shortstop, if you didn't have the infield-fly rule, the shortstop would simply drop the ball, throw to third base to get a force out and then the thirdbaseman could throw to second base for another force out and make a double play. Calling the batter out removes a cheap double play opportunity for the defense. With no outs and bases loaded, the infield could throw it "around the horn" and get a cheap triple play off of a pop-up.

Now do you see why it's actually an advantage to the hitting team to have the batter called out on an infield fly?

d-