FC or E

[neodius]

Help me please in this situation:
Runner at first base. Batter pops up the ball to the second baseman. Second baseman drops the ball during the catch. Then he pick up the ball and throws it to SS (force out to the runner). Batter at the 1B.
How it have to be scored?

[mprusak]

FC. No error since out was recorded.

[neodius]

FC? But the batter have to be in out if 2B didnt drop the ball. In that case batter reached on error.

[team mom]

The batter would normally be out on an in-field fly rule and the runner at first runs at his own peril. If no in-field fly rule then I agree it should be FC. You should not charge an error if an out was made on the play.

Statistically speaking, both FC and ROE affect the batter in the same way.

[mprusak]

No IFF in this case as only 1 runner on base.

If caught, assume runner holds at first and you end up with same result (runner at first with an out recorded).

Defensive team's position was not worsened on the play. (base-runner situation is unchanged and there is now 1 more out).

Think of similar situation w no runners on base.
Batter hits a soft line drive right at second baseman. He should have caught it, but didnt. However, he picks up the ball and still throws runner out at first. No error since out was recorded anyway. Error would be charged (obviously) if runner reached following the drop.

Key is, what is the end result? Not, was the play made the way it should have been?