The more I've paid attention, the easier this rule is. People complaining about the 'trickiness' (eg, Hedges in the article) of it are just belly-aching.
It's maybe a bit different than what he was taught growing up. Maybe.
The video can be found at this link.
https://www.mlb.com/news/austin-hedges- ... urned-call
Go to the 14-15 second mark.
Keep in mind the foul line is an extension of back angle of the plate. Hedges sets up with his left leg over the line and between the runner and home. Hence, no lane is given. Worse he reaches back across his body and catches the ball to the right of his right shoulder. So, he can't argue the act of fielding the ball caused him to block the lane.
This one is solely on Hedges for setting up incorrectly, imo. Or on the Guardians for teaching him to set up incorrectly.
It's pretty simple. Put the left foot on the front left corner of the plate (the corner closest to 3B/Pitchers mound). The right foot is in fair territory. A lane is given to the back/middle of the plate. Receive the ball and apply the tag. Hedges is, what, maybe a foot or 18" 'left' of there. Sure, its a small difference, but the same 'tricky' rule kept him from being lit the [expletive] up by the runner as he almost surely would have been 10 years ago.
And, if there's any question as to rather or not he didn't provide a lane, look at the path the runner took. Or the angle from the 3B dugout.
Having said all that, I will go back to my original point that it's not tricky. Perhaps it is tricky. Same as most all of baseball.
