To err is human, especially if you don't cover second
Another good sports question came my way this week, this time from a professional baseball fan who lives in Monroeville.
Larry from Monroeville writes: I watch baseball from time to time, mostly the Atlanta Braves, and I’ve always wondered about what actually constitutes a fielding error. Sometimes you’ll see a player, usually an infielder, who’ll make a fielding mistake, but he won’t be charged with an error. Why is that? What exactly do you have to do to commit an error?
Good question, Larry. That’s something I’ve always wondered about myself. Here’s what I was able to find out.
According to Major League Baseball, an error is the act, in the judgement of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance should have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.
An error is also charged when a fielder fails to catch a foul fly ball that could have been caught with ordinary effort, thus prolonging the batter’s appearance at the plate. The term error can also refer to the play in which an error was committed.
An error does not count as a hit and the batter will not be credited for any RBIs when runs are scored - unless, in the scorer's judgment, the batter would have reached first base safely but one or more of the additional base(s) reached was the result of the fielder's mistake. In that case, the play will be scored both as a hit (for the number of bases the fielders should have limited the batter to) and an error.
Passed balls and wild pitches are separate statistical categories and are not scored as errors.
Personally, I’ve always had a problem with using errors as a measuring stick for a player’s fielding ability. There are a few problems with doing so, mainly because some fielding mistakes aren’t counted as errors. For example, the failure to cover a base isn’t considered an error.
Also, in order for a fielder to be charged with an error, he must have done something right by being in the correct place to be able to attempt the play. A poor fielder can "avoid" many errors simply by being unable to reach batted or throw balls that a better fielder could successfully reach. For that reason, it’s possible that a poor fielder will have fewer errors than an otherwise better fielder.
I think most of your official scorers in the professional ranks recognize this today. It seems to be standard practice for them to take a fielder’s supposed "extraordinary" effort or positioning into account when judging whether the play should have been successful given ordinary effort.
While researching the answer to Larry’s question, I also ran across another interesting bit of trivia. Did you know that Hall of Famer Ty Cobb holds the American League record for most career errors by an outfielder? It’s true. In his 23-year career, Cobb, a .366 lifetime hitter, committed a record-setting 271 errors as an outfielder.
Larry from Monroeville writes: I watch baseball from time to time, mostly the Atlanta Braves, and I’ve always wondered about what actually constitutes a fielding error. Sometimes you’ll see a player, usually an infielder, who’ll make a fielding mistake, but he won’t be charged with an error. Why is that? What exactly do you have to do to commit an error?
Good question, Larry. That’s something I’ve always wondered about myself. Here’s what I was able to find out.
According to Major League Baseball, an error is the act, in the judgement of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to reach one or more additional bases, when such an advance should have been prevented given ordinary effort by the fielder.
An error is also charged when a fielder fails to catch a foul fly ball that could have been caught with ordinary effort, thus prolonging the batter’s appearance at the plate. The term error can also refer to the play in which an error was committed.
An error does not count as a hit and the batter will not be credited for any RBIs when runs are scored - unless, in the scorer's judgment, the batter would have reached first base safely but one or more of the additional base(s) reached was the result of the fielder's mistake. In that case, the play will be scored both as a hit (for the number of bases the fielders should have limited the batter to) and an error.
Passed balls and wild pitches are separate statistical categories and are not scored as errors.
Personally, I’ve always had a problem with using errors as a measuring stick for a player’s fielding ability. There are a few problems with doing so, mainly because some fielding mistakes aren’t counted as errors. For example, the failure to cover a base isn’t considered an error.
Also, in order for a fielder to be charged with an error, he must have done something right by being in the correct place to be able to attempt the play. A poor fielder can "avoid" many errors simply by being unable to reach batted or throw balls that a better fielder could successfully reach. For that reason, it’s possible that a poor fielder will have fewer errors than an otherwise better fielder.
I think most of your official scorers in the professional ranks recognize this today. It seems to be standard practice for them to take a fielder’s supposed "extraordinary" effort or positioning into account when judging whether the play should have been successful given ordinary effort.
While researching the answer to Larry’s question, I also ran across another interesting bit of trivia. Did you know that Hall of Famer Ty Cobb holds the American League record for most career errors by an outfielder? It’s true. In his 23-year career, Cobb, a .366 lifetime hitter, committed a record-setting 271 errors as an outfielder.
posted by Lee Peacock at 4:31 PM
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