A brief discussion on scoring errors

[brentwalker]

There are many situations where knowing the rulebook like the back of your hand is important. I would encourage all of you, new and old to scoring to re-read section 10.12 of MLB rulebook. I've been scoring for a while and still get confused on some of these especially when the speed of the game happens very quickly and you don't have time to think about it. Lets take a look at one comment in section 10.12. This is just one area and I thought we could discuss them together.

Rule 10.12(a)(1) Comment:

... It is not necessary that the fielder touch the ball to be charged with an error. If a ground ball goes through a fielder's legs or a fly ball falls untouched and, in the scorer's judgment, the fielder could have handled the ball with ordinary effort, the official scorer shall charge such fielder with an error.

I hear this topic come up quite often while I am sitting in the stands. You will often hear, "Well, he didn't touch the ball so it could not have been an error, even though it went between his legs. It is an error!

For example, the official scorer shall charge an infielder with an error when a ground ball passes to either side of such infielder if, in the official scorer’s judgment, a fielder at that position making ordinary effort would have fielded such ground ball and retired a runner. The official scorer shall charge an outfielder with an error if such outfielder allows a fly ball to drop to the ground if, in the official scorer’s judgment, an outfielder at that position making ordinary effort would have caught such fly ball.

This section places a lot of responsibility on the scorekeeper. He/She must identify if said fielder "making ordinary effort" could have caught the ball or made the play. If such judgement is made and under ordinary effort the play would have been made then an error must be scored.

If a throw is low, wide or high, or strikes the ground, and a runner reaches base who otherwise would have been put out by such throw, the official scorer shall charge the player making the throw with an error.

Often you hear that the error was on the first baseman for not making a catch by digging out a poorly thrown ball. Had he made the catch, the runner would have been out, right!? The error was actually on the throw, not the catch. The throw would be "ordinary effort" part, but a catch like this would be spectacular. Error assigned to the fielder making the throw.

The official scorer shall not score mental mistakes or misjudgments as errors unless a specific rule prescribes otherwise.

I'm going to give him an error because he should have known better or he should have thrown it to second instead of third. Nope, no error should be recorded here.

A fielder’s mental mistake that leads to a physical misplay—such as throwing the ball into the stands or rolling the ball to the pitcher’s mound, mistakenly believing there to be three outs, and thereby allowing a runner or runners to advance—shall not be considered a mental mistake for purposes of this rule and the official scorer shall charge a fielder committing such a mistake with an error.

Fairly self explanatory, an error should be recorded in these scenarios.

The official scorer shall not charge an error if the pitcher fails to cover first base on a play, thereby allowing a batter-runner to reach first base safely. The official scorer shall not charge an error to a fielder who incorrectly throws to the wrong base on a play.

No comments here, reads fairly clearly.

The official scorer shall charge an error to a fielder who causes another fielder to misplay a ball—for example, by knocking the ball out of the other fielder’s glove. On such a play, when the official scorer charges an error to the interfering fielder, the official scorer shall not charge an error to the fielder with whom the other fielder interfered.

Trying to turn a double play, an unassisted 6-3 double play, the second baseman attempts to retrieve the same batted ball and arriving late bumps into the SS who then drops the ball attempting to make the throw to first base. Record the error to the second baseman not SS. Runner out at second, batter runner safe at first on error by 2B.

I hope some of this helps in scoring some of these situations. Read more of 10.12 for additional scoring specifics on errors.

[OhioTex]

like the reminders..

the first base related one, ball hits dirt before the baseman, error on throw.. similar to wild pitch/passed ball judgement, wild pitch if ball hits ground not a passed ball,

[danmcc]

like the reminders..

the first base related one, ball hits dirt before the baseman, error on throw.. similar to wild pitch/passed ball judgement, wild pitch if ball hits ground not a passed ball,

OhioTex, I didn't know the pass ball judgement test. My son's a catcher and I guess I have been beating up his stats for years now by not using the hit the dirt first rule. The stuff we pick up on this board it great.

[OhioTex]

Dan..

see below for MLB rule.. yes if runner advances and ball was in the dirt it is by rule a WP ... note it is before reaching the catcher not just before reaching home plate, another subtlety

also as your son grows, remind him MLB stats can be quirky, when applied to letter of law, sometimes a player gets helped or hurt by technically correct application. so in some cases although technically it is a WP, in practice he still maybe should have made the stop great cathcers do more times than not.



10.13 Wild Pitches And Passed Balls
A wild pitch is defined in Rule 2.00 (Wild Pitch). A passed ball is a statistic charged against a catcher whose action has caused a runner or runners to advance, as set forth in this Rule 10.13.
(a) The official scorer shall charge a pitcher with a wild pitch when a legally delivered ball is so high, so wide or so low that the catcher does not stop and control the ball by ordinary effort, thereby permitting a runner or runners to advance. The official scorer shall charge a pitcher with a wild pitch when a legally delivered ball touches the ground or home plate before reaching the catcher and is not handled by the catcher, thereby permitting a runner or runners to advance. When the third strike is a wild pitch, permitting the batter to reach first base, the official scorer shall score a strikeout and a wild pitch.

[PetroGuy]

I like to remind people to be careful with assigning errors on the throw to first base issue. It is correct to give the error to the fielder throwing the ball if it is in the dirt or otherwise way off target. However, if the throw required would have taken more than ordinary effort, then it is a base hit. For example, ball hit up the middle and the SS has to lay out to get the ball and then get up and make a quick throw that ends up off target usually won't get an error on the throw. The totality of the play requires more than ordinary effort so the batter gets credit for a hit. There would only be an error on this play if the batter was able to go to 2nd due to the throw.

[Bryan D Shepherd]

Rule of Thumb: If there's any question as to whether the play could've been done with ORDINARY EFFORT , it should NOT be scored as an error.

[Paulsilas]

WP v Passed Ball - In softball - where you have the drop ball, which very often could be thrown so that it intentionally drops as it is passing the batter with such downward trajectory that it hits the ground before getting to the catcher - Does anyone know if there is still a wild pitch called?

[OhioTex]

if it hits the ground before the catcher and gets by the catcher and allows a runner to advance. it is a WP not a passed ball.

[gatorguyno5]

brentwalker,

In your double play example, I always understood that one could not assume a double play when it comes to errors. This, even though the collision happened, the batter-runner would be considered safe due to a fielder's choice. The error (either on 2B for the collision SS for the throw) would only come into play if the errant throw allowed the batter-runner to advance to second.

Have I got that right?

[PetroGuy]

The error (or not ) is a judgement call by the scorer. If the scorer judges that the double play should have been made with ordinary effort, then it is an error. If it is close, then the batter gets the benefit of the doubt and it is scored as a fielder's choice.

I base my judgement on how sharply the ball is hit, where the fielders are positioned prior to the pitch (pinched in at DP depth), etc....