A runner must yield to the fielder entitled to field a batted ball.

The ruleset used on this page

This page applies the Official Baseball Rules, 2026 Edition, issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball. Its foreword says the code governs MLB clubs and leagues in MLB's professional development system. The controlling provisions here are Rules 5.09(a)(11), 5.09(b)(3) and (7), 6.01(a), 6.01(j), and the Definitions of Terms.

“Interference” in this page means offensive interference by a batter or runner. Catcher's interference, spectator interference, coach interference and defensive obstruction are different rules. NCAA, NFHS, Little League, international tournaments and local leagues may appoint different books or safety provisions; the MLB ruling below should not be silently exported to those games.

How to rule the play

1. Name the ball and the play: batted ball, thrown ball, tag attempt, throw to first, or possible double play.
2. Freeze the relevant moment: identify what the fielder was attempting when the alleged hindrance occurred.
3. For a batted ball, select one protected fielder: when two or more could field it, Rule 6.01(a)(10) requires the umpire to decide which one is entitled to the rule's protection.
4. Find actual hindrance: contact can prove it, but screening, stopping, changing course or another act can hinder without contact. Mere proximity is not enough.
5. Apply the correct intent test: intent is unnecessary for ordinary hindrance of the protected batted-ball fielder, but is required for ordinary thrown-ball interference and several enhanced penalties.
6. Check the specific exception: a legally occupied base, a passed or deflected batted ball, runner's-lane compliance, a bona fide slide, or a fielder whose fielding attempt has ended can change the result.
7. Apply that rule's out and placement: do not assume every interference call puts out the same player or returns runners to the same time.

The protected fielder has right of way

Rules 5.09(b)(3) and 6.01(a)(10) make a runner responsible for avoiding a fielder attempting to make a play on a batted ball. If the runner hinders that fielder, the runner is out whether the hindrance was intentional or accidental. “I stayed in my base path” is no defence: a runner's route does not override the fielder's right to make the initial play.

Only one fielder receives this protection when several converge. The umpire identifies the fielder entitled to field the ball. Contact with another, unprotected fielder is not runner interference under this provision merely because that player was also moving toward the ball.

A missed ball can turn the next collision into obstruction

Fielding protection lasts while the fielder is in the act of fielding the batted ball. Rule 6.01(h)'s Comment says a fielder who has made an attempt and missed can no longer be in that act. Its example is an infielder who dives, misses and then remains on the ground in the runner's way: that player has very likely obstructed the runner.

This boundary is fact-sensitive. A fielder moving into position to receive an imminent throw may still be “in the act of fielding” that throw for obstruction purposes. An umpire must distinguish the completed attempt at the batted ball from the later attempt to receive a throw.

Contact with the base changes the intent test

The penalty Comment to Rule 6.01(a) creates a narrow exception. If the runner is in contact with a base that the runner legally occupies when hindering the batted-ball fielder, the runner is not out unless the umpire judges the hindrance intentional. This applies in fair or foul territory.

If that base-contact hindrance is intentional, the rule supplies an enhanced result: with fewer than two outs, both the runner and batter are out; with two outs, the batter is out. The exception is about hindering a fielder while in contact with a legally occupied base. It is not a general promise that a runner standing on a base cannot be out when a fair batted ball touches the runner.

An untouched fair ball usually brings an immediate dead-ball out

Under Rules 5.09(b)(7) and 6.01(a)(11), a runner touched in fair territory by a fair batted ball before it touches a fielder is out, subject to the passed-infielder and Infield Fly exceptions below. The ball is dead immediately. The batter-runner is entitled to first base under Rule 5.05(b)(4), and other runners advance only when forced.

Intent does not matter for this basic touch. A runner cannot avoid the rule merely by freezing or by being on a base. If the same fair ball touches two runners, only the first is out because the ball becomes dead at that first touch.

Two events can keep the ball live

• Passed infielder: if the ball goes through or by an infielder, then immediately touches a runner behind that fielder, the runner is not out when no other infielder had a chance to make a play. The ball remains live.
• Deflected by fielder: if an infielder deflects the batted ball and it then touches a runner, the touch alone does not retire the runner; the ball remains live.

Those exceptions do not authorize a deliberate act. Rule 6.01(a)(11) says a runner who deliberately and intentionally kicks a batted ball after an infielder missed it is out for interference.

Being on the base matters only in this special touch case

If an Infield Fly touches a runner who is on a base before the ball has gone through or by an infielder, the runner is not out for the touch, although the batter is out under the Infield Fly rule. If the runner is off the base in the same circumstances, both runner and batter are out.

In either case, the ball is dead on the runner's touch and no runner may score or advance except a runner forced to advance. This Rule 5.09(b)(7) exception is why the broad claim “the base always protects the runner” is misleading.

Ordinary contact with a throw is not enough

Rules 5.09(b)(3) and 6.01(a)(10) require a runner to intentionally interfere with a thrown ball. A throw that strikes a runner who is advancing, returning, sliding or trying to avoid a tag in an ordinary way generally remains live. The decisive question is whether the runner committed an intentional act to affect the throw or the fielder's play—not whether the ball hit the runner.

Examples of evidence may include swatting or kicking at the ball, deliberately moving into its path, or reaching to disrupt a fielder. The umpire must judge the act and purpose from the whole play. The separate first-base lane rule can produce an out without proof that the batter-runner meant to interfere.

The current lane includes the dirt on both sides of the foul line

Rule 5.09(a)(11) applies while a ball is being fielded to first base during the last half of the trip from home to first. The batter-runner is out only when both elements exist: the batter-runner runs outside the permitted area and, in the umpire's judgment, interferes with the fielder taking the throw at first. Being outside without interference is not an out.

Since the 2024 MLB change, compliance includes both feet within or on the lines of the three-foot lane, or on the dirt inside—left of—the foul line. The 2026 Rule Comment measures compliance after the batter-runner reaches the last half of the distance or after the fielder releases the throw, whichever is later. Running on the infield grass to the left or beyond the three-foot line to the right can trigger the rule. The batter-runner may leave that area to avoid a fielder attempting to field a batted ball.

Rule 6.01(j) asks for purpose, contact and a bona fide slide

On a double-play attempt, a runner violates Rule 6.01(j) when the runner does not make a bona fide slide and initiates or attempts contact with the fielder for the purpose of breaking up the double play. A bona fide slide must:

1. Begin by making ground contact before the base.
2. Allow and include an attempt to reach the base with a hand or foot.
3. Allow and include an attempt to remain on the base after the slide, except at home plate.
4. Stay within reach of the base without changing pathway to initiate contact.

A roll block, a raised leg kicked above the fielder's knee, or an arm or upper-body action intended to initiate contact is not bona fide. A permissible slide can include incidental contact, and there is no interference when the fielder caused the contact by occupying or moving into the runner's legal pathway. On a violation, both runner and batter-runner are out; if the runner was already out, the runner whom the defence was trying to retire is declared out instead.

A runner cannot manufacture obstruction with malicious contact

The 2026 edition expanded the Comment to the definition of “Tag.” During a tag attempt, ordinary contact may occur, but a runner may not use the hands or arms for an obviously malicious or unsportsmanlike act—such as grabbing, tackling, punching, kicking or intentionally slapping at the ball—to commit intentional interference unrelated to running the bases.

MLB's guidance for the 2026 season expressly applies this principle to runners who initiate contact in a rundown or while avoiding a tag to draw an obstruction call. The runner is out and other runners return to the base last touched. If the intentional act was meant to prevent a double play, the 2026 definition tells the umpire to rule the batter-runner out as well.

There is no general “play the advantage” option

For ordinary runner interference under Rule 6.01(a), the runner is out and the ball is dead. Other runners return to the last base legally touched at the time of interference unless another rule says otherwise. If the batter-runner had not reached first, runners generally return to the base occupied at the time of the pitch.

The book preserves a narrow timing exception: with fewer than two outs, if a runner scores during an intervening play at home and the batter-runner is then called out for runner's-lane interference, that run counts. This is not an advantage clause; it is an express placement exception. Once ordinary offensive interference occurs, the umpire does not let the play continue merely because the defence might obtain a better result.

Only specified interference categories are reviewable in MLB

MLB's current replay list expressly includes interference on double plays—whether a runner intentionally interfered in an attempt to break up the double play—and collisions at home plate. It does not list ordinary batted-ball right-of-way, thrown-ball intent or first-base runner's-lane interference as independently reviewable categories.

A separately reviewable part of the same play, such as a force or tag call, can still be reviewed. If replay changes a reviewable call, the replay official places both clubs as if the corrected call had been made. The ordinary interference judgments that are not listed remain with the on-field umpires.

Ground ball and the protected shortstop

Situation: with a runner advancing from second, the shortstop moves across the runner's route to field an untouched ground ball. The runner tries to avoid contact but clips the shortstop before the ball arrives.

MLB 2026 ruling: runner out, ball dead. Under Rules 5.09(b)(3) and 6.01(a)(10), accidental hindrance is enough because the shortstop was the fielder entitled to field the batted ball. Other runners are placed under Rule 6.01(a)'s penalty.

The third baseman misses before the collision

Situation: the third baseman dives, the ground ball passes, and no other infielder has a play. Still on the ground after the attempt, the fielder trips the advancing runner.

MLB 2026 ruling: not runner interference on the initial batted-ball play. Rule 6.01(h)'s Comment says a fielder is no longer in the act of fielding after making an attempt and missing; the later hindrance is likely obstruction. The decisive fact is that the protected attempt had ended.

A deflection hits the runner

Situation: the pitcher gets a glove on a ground ball, which then strikes the runner from first. The runner made no deliberate move toward the ball.

MLB 2026 ruling: play on. Rules 5.06(c)(6) and 6.01(a)(11) keep a deflected batted ball live when it touches a runner. A deliberate kick or other intentional interference would produce a different ruling.

A throw hits a runner in a rundown

Situation: a runner changes direction normally between first and second and a fielder's throw hits the runner in the back.

MLB 2026 ruling: play on absent an intentional act. A thrown ball hitting a runner is not itself interference. If instead the runner grabbed the fielder, intentionally slapped the ball or initiated unrelated contact to obtain an obstruction call, the 2026 Tag Comment and MLB guidance support an out and dead-ball placement.

Inside the lane, but the throw hits the runner

Situation: during the last half to first, both of the batter-runner's feet stay on the dirt inside the foul line. A throw from near home strikes the runner and gets away.

MLB 2026 ruling: no Rule 5.09(a)(11) lane interference because the runner complied with the current lane geometry. The ball remains live unless some separate intentional act occurred. The outcome is not changed merely because the throw failed to reach the first baseman.

Intentional hindrance while touching second

Situation: with no outs, a runner remains in contact with legally occupied second base but deliberately grabs the shortstop's arm as the fielder tries to field a ground ball.

MLB 2026 ruling: both runner and batter are out. Base contact removes an out for accidental hindrance, not deliberate hindrance; the Rule 6.01(a) penalty Comment prescribes two outs when the intentional act occurs with fewer than two outs.

Five shortcuts that produce the wrong call

• “Contact is required.” A runner can hinder without contact, and contact can occur without interference.
• “Intent is always required.” Not for ordinary hindrance of the protected batted-ball fielder or for the fair-ball-touch rule.
• “The base is a safe zone.” The base-contact exception concerns hindering a fielder; a runner on a base can still be out when touched by a fair batted ball, apart from the Infield Fly exception.
• “Any fielder has right of way.” When several pursue a batted ball, the umpire protects one fielder under Rule 6.01(a)(10).
• “Outside the lane means out.” Rule 5.09(a)(11) also requires interference with the fielder taking the throw at first.

Check the code appointed for the game

This page does not claim that NCAA, school, youth, international or softball rules match MLB. Those codes can differ in runner's-lane wording, slide requirements, malicious-contact penalties, ejections and video review. For a disputed play, identify the competition and season first, then use its rulebook and any tournament or local supplements.

Governing-body sources and effective version

• Office of the Commissioner of Baseball — Official Baseball Rules, 2026 Edition: Rules 5.05(b)(4), 5.06(c)(6), 5.09(a)(11), 5.09(b)(3) and (7), 6.01(a), 6.01(h), 6.01(j), and Definitions of Terms (“Interference” and “Tag”)
• Major League Baseball — Fielder Right of Way, current official overview
• Major League Baseball — runner's-lane expansion approved for the 2024 season; reflected in 2026 Rule 5.09(a)(11)
• Major League Baseball — 2026 runner-contact and obstruction-call guidance, issued 12 February 2026
• Major League Baseball — Slide Rule, current Rule 6.01(j) overview
• Major League Baseball — Replay Review, current reviewable interference categories

Checked on 26 August 2026 against the Office of the Commissioner's 2026 Official Baseball Rules and MLB's current official rule, guidance and replay pages. The 2026 edition governs MLB and MLB's professional development leagues; league directives and replay regulations may supplement it. NCAA, NFHS, Little League, international tournaments and local competitions may appoint different rules.