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Mississippi high schooler steals 103 bases ... in 30 games

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Steak Snabler, Apr 19, 2013.

  1. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    Can't believe there's even an argument here. LTL is completely right in his interpretation of the rules.
     
  2. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Basically the "catcher's indifference" call is entirely discretionary on the part of the scorer, who almost always calls it because he believes the runner doesn't "deserve" a stolen base.
     
  3. DanOregon

    DanOregon Well-Known Member

    Surprised he also hasn't set a record for hit by pitches.
     
  4. BenPoquette

    BenPoquette Active Member

    The runner taking second should get a stolen base. The defense was not indifferent to the runner moving up, it did not want to make a play on the runner because of the runner on third. That is not indifference, that is the catcher using other factors on the field to determine what play to make.
     
  5. NDJournalist

    NDJournalist Active Member

    You don't necessarily have to be up big to allow a defensive indifference. You can be up, say, two in the final inning and allow the runner on first, who ultimately doesn't matter, to take second without screwing up your defense by trying to get to the bag.
     
  6. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    So once again, we are giving the official scorer the telepathic duty to figure out exactly WHY the catcher allowed the stolen base.

    Keep in mind in high school games half the time the official scorer is a 13-year-old girl whose last playing experience was in 9-year-old tee-ball.
     
  7. RickStain

    RickStain Well-Known Member

    It's a stupid scoring rule. A lot of stupid scoring rules exist in baseball. Personally, I find both the entire concept and the practical implementation of "errors" to be absurd. I'd eliminate them entirely, if it were up to me.

    Here's the full text of the MLB version of the rule, if anyone cares.

    "(g) The official scorer shall not score a stolen base when a runner advances solely
    because of the defensive team’s indifference to the runner’s advance. The official
    scorer shall score such a play as a fielder’s choice.
    Rule 10.07(g) Comment: The scorer shall consider, in judging whether the defensive team has been indifferent to a runner’s advance, the totality of the circumstances, including the inning and score of the game, whether the defensive team had held the runner on base, whether the pitcher had made any pickoff attempts on that runner before the runner’s advance, whether the fielder ordinarily expected to cover the base to which the runner advanced made a move to cover such base, whether the defensive team had a legitimate strategic motive to not contest the runner’s advance or whether the defensive team might be trying impermissibly to deny the runner credit for a stolen base. For example, with runners on first and third bases, the official scorer should ordinarily credit a stolen base when the runner on first advances to second, if, in the scorer’s judgment, the defensive team had a legitimate strategic motive—namely, preventing the runner on third base from scoring on the throw to second base—not to contest the runner’s advance to second base. The official scorer may conclude that the defensive team is impermissibly trying to deny a runner credit for a stolen base if, for example, the defensive team fails to defend the advance of a runner approaching a league or career record or a league statistical title. "
     
  8. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Awesome, so now the official scorer's telepathic duties include determining the level of the defensive team's awareness of the MLB record books and stat sheet -- whether they knew the baserunner was going for some kind of record or not.


    How about you just record what actually happens, instead of trying to figure out why (or who wanted it to happen)?

    Over the years I've scored hundreds of baseball games. I knew all about the "defensive indifference" rule, but I never ever ruled it that way.

    If the baserunner is smart enough to see the defensive team is not going to make a play and he takes the base, good for him. It's called "aggressive baseball."

    (If he's stealing bases when he's up 11-1, he's probably going to catch one in the ear sooner or later, but that's his problem, not the official scorer's, to sort out.)

    If the defensive team for whatever reason -- avoiding a high-risk throw, guarding against a runner on 3rd scoring, opening first base to put a power hitter on, because they think the baserunner is so damn fast they can't throw him out, because they're stupid or lazy or don't feel like playing or are tired of the coach yelling at them, i don't give a shit -- elects to let him take the base, it's a stolen base against them.

    If you don't want the other team to steal bases against you, throw the damn base runners out.
     
  9. BB Bobcat

    BB Bobcat Active Member

    In the major leagues anyway (and I've covered MLB for 17 years) indifference is only called in the 9th inning and the giveaway is almost always that the runner isn't being held on. Also the infielders don't even break to cover the bag because they know there will be no throw.

    It's really not hard.
     
  10. Starman

    Starman Well-Known Member

    Probably as frequently as the "catchers' indifference," we have situations in absolute blowout games where the losing team brings in guys to pitch who are either ticketed for the minors or in some cases position players, and the manager tells them, "just throw the ball straight down the pipe, we don't give a damn what you do but let's get this inning over with," and the batters know the ball is coming straight down the pipe, so they tee off, should we not award those guys base hits either?

    I mean the pitcher wasn't really trying to get them out, just toss the ball over the plate, so it seems to me they don't really deserve base hits.

    Maybe we should extend this to every play, in which the official scorer will use telepathy to figure out how hard the defense was trying and whether or not they wanted to get the player out. Maybe every hit could be put up to a panel deciding whether or not the batter "deserves" it.
     
  11. SoCalScribe

    SoCalScribe Member

    You have to love the people who try to legislate the rules. The rules are clear; if coaches report suspect stats, go cover a game and react accordingly.

    I once had a coach reporting well over 20 rebounds per game for a player. I thought it was likely BS because the coach was once of those who never stopped calling and whining about various inequitiies. But every game I covered, that player had over 20 legitimate rebounds.
     
  12. LongTimeListener

    LongTimeListener Well-Known Member

    Torii Hunter got a stolen base for this (as he should):

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Dec 15, 2014
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