Baseball scoring question ...

Kid lays down a sacrifice. Pitcher fields clean and would have had the lead runner had the throw not been wild.
Sacrifice and an E1? Or FC and an E1?

 

If he woulda had the runner, I say FC and E1.

Ask Buck, if he's on.

 

FC and E1.

Even he wouldn't have got the runner, it's still a FC. The fielder chose to throw to second.

 

You don't penalize the batter for doing his job.

Sacrifice, E1.

 

If the batter did his job, the pitcher wouldn't have had a play at second. He got the bunt down, but obviously not a good bunt. I say FC, E1.

 

Play was at third.
Kid bunting is hitting .600. Caused more than one raised eyebrow in the press box. Is overcoaching a word?

 

It's all in the judgement of the official scorer. If he would have been out, then FC, E1. If he would have been safe, Sac bunt, E1.

 

I know the scales of justice are supposed to be blind, but I'd factor in the fact that the kid's hitting .600 to some extent. He may be guilty of laying down a crappy bunt, but I'd give him a spirit-of-the-law sac if it were me.

 

FC and E1

 

It's FC, E1, no questions asked. If you thought the defense had no play at third and the runner stayed on third after the overthrow, it's Sac, FC for the batter reaching first. If the runners advance another base on the overthrow, it's sac, E-1.

And as to bunting a .600 hitter, if this is high school, when in doubt, bunt. Even among elite teams, at that stage of player development, the percentages are better that you'll either lay down a bunt hit or the defense will fuck up their bunt defense than your .400 hitter (not .600, mind you) has of getting a clean hit.

I used to sometimes cover a perennial Baseball America prep top 25 team and they'd bunt, steal and hit and run the shit out of people. Their theory was what I said above, plus the "oh shit" factor. If you small ball a lot at that level, pitchers and defenders tend to get so mentally caught up on what they might have to do to defend the bunt or steal that they screw up the basic things. A pitcher will be so caught up on the runner on first he ends up leaving the fastball waist high. The second baseman will be so worried about covering first base on a bunt that when the batter swings away and hits a one-hopper to him, he "oh shits" it and it bounces between the wickets.

See it happen all the time. Works fairly well in college too, but to a lesser degree.

 

Kid is hitting .600 and is bunting?
Proper ruling is forfeiture.

 

SAC, E-1. No question. No presumption of an out at third (or second).


Scoring rule 10.08
Score a sacrifice bunt when, before two are out, the batter advances one or more runners with a bunt and is put out at first base, or would have been put out except for a fielding error, unless, in the judgment of the official scorer, the batter was bunting exclusively for a base hit and not sacrificing his own chance of reaching first base for the purpose of advancing a runner or runners, in which case the official scorer shall charge the batter with a time at bat;


SPNITED coment:
Regardless of whether the lead runner would have been out had the throw been accurate, the batter sacrificed his chance to gte a hit. Therefore, SAC E-1. The faulty execution means nothing unless a runner other than the batter is put out.