Baseball scoring question

[Batman]

Runner on second, no outs, batter hits a grounder in the hole between third and short. Third baseman misses it, shortstop gets it but is deep in the hole and probably doesn't have a play at first. The runner, seeing no one covering third, breaks for third. The shortstop runs to the bag to try and tag the runner out, but doesn't quite get there and the runner is safe. It's a close play.
So....does it go in the book as a hit, since the batter probably would've beaten a long throw to first? Or a fielder's choice, since the shortstop tried to make the play at third?

 

[Ace]

Runner on second, no outs, batter hits a grounder in the hole between third and short. Third baseman misses it, shortstop gets it but is deep in the hole and probably doesn't have a play at first. The runner, seeing no one covering third, breaks for third. The shortstop runs to the bag to try and tag the runner out, but doesn't quite get there and the runner is safe. It's a close play.
So....does it go in the book as a hit, since the batter probably would've beaten a long throw to first? Or a fielder's choice, since the shortstop tried to make the play at third?

Probably hit but ...

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

FC if scorekeeper determines SS had a shot at throwing him out.

 

[SF_Express]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

 

[Batman]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

He just didn't get to it. One of those balls that's in between the two guys, and was just out of the third baseman's reach. Definitely not an error. If the shortstop isn't backing up the play, it's a clean single to left.
For the record, the folks in the pressbox talked me into chalking it up as a fielder's choice. They thought the shortstop had a shot at the batter. I was watching the shortstop, though, and it was a fairly slow grounder in the hole, plus he was going to his right and would've had to take that extra step to set up and make a long throw. The batter wasn't terribly slow, so I'm thinking he'd have beaten the throw for a hit.
I listened to them, then had scorer's remorse later on.

 

[playthrough]

My guess is FC too. If the shortstop fielded it cleanly and *could* have thrown it to first, I don't think it can be a hit. Not sure you're allowed to factor in the batter's running abilities.

 

[fishwrapper]

It's a base hit. Plain and simple.

 

[Ace]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

He just didn't get to it. One of those balls that's in between the two guys, and was just out of the third baseman's reach. Definitely not an error. If the shortstop isn't backing up the play, it's a clean single to left.
For the record, the folks in the pressbox talked me into chalking it up as a fielder's choice. They thought the shortstop had a shot at the batter. I was watching the shortstop, though, and it was a fairly slow grounder in the hole, plus he was going to his right and would've had to take that extra step to set up and make a long throw. The batter wasn't terribly slow, so I'm thinking he'd have beaten the throw for a hit.
I listened to them, then had scorer's remorse later on.

So were you the official scorekeeper or were you keeping score for a story?

If you were the official scorekeeper, I'd probably rule it a hit if you didn't think they SS had a chance to throw out the runner.

If you were keeping a book for a story, you would need to check with the home team's official book to see how they ruled it.

 

[User 1019]

Base hit.

 

[fishwrapper]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

He just didn't get to it. One of those balls that's in between the two guys, and was just out of the third baseman's reach. Definitely not an error. If the shortstop isn't backing up the play, it's a clean single to left.
For the record, the folks in the pressbox talked me into chalking it up as a fielder's choice. They thought the shortstop had a shot at the batter. I was watching the shortstop, though, and it was a fairly slow grounder in the hole, plus he was going to his right and would've had to take that extra step to set up and make a long throw. The batter wasn't terribly slow, so I'm thinking he'd have beaten the throw for a hit.
I listened to them, then had scorer's remorse later on.

So were you the official scorekeeper or were you keeping score for a story?

If you were the official scorekeeper, I'd probably rule it a hit if you didn't think they SS had a chance to throw out the runner.

If you were keeping a book for a story, you would need to check with the home team's official book to see how they ruled it.

Ace, unless it's Steve Balboni tied to Greg Luzinski running to first, it's a base hit.

 

[Ace]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

He just didn't get to it. One of those balls that's in between the two guys, and was just out of the third baseman's reach. Definitely not an error. If the shortstop isn't backing up the play, it's a clean single to left.
For the record, the folks in the pressbox talked me into chalking it up as a fielder's choice. They thought the shortstop had a shot at the batter. I was watching the shortstop, though, and it was a fairly slow grounder in the hole, plus he was going to his right and would've had to take that extra step to set up and make a long throw. The batter wasn't terribly slow, so I'm thinking he'd have beaten the throw for a hit.
I listened to them, then had scorer's remorse later on.

So were you the official scorekeeper or were you keeping score for a story?

If you were the official scorekeeper, I'd probably rule it a hit if you didn't think they SS had a chance to throw out the runner.

If you were keeping a book for a story, you would need to check with the home team's official book to see how they ruled it.

Ace, unless it's Steve Balboni tied to Greg Luzinski running to first, it's a base hit.

Sounds that way, but our Batboy got led astray by the pressbox wags.

 

[spnited]

base hit all the way

 

[AVSE]

Having done some scoring for a minor league baseball team, I can only offer what my ruling would likely have been:
Hit.
The reason: The SS fielded a grounder deep in the hole and would have had to make a great throw just to have a shot at the runner at 1B. The decision to try at third was a last-ditch effort on the part of the SS because he knew that was his best chance at an out, but no out was guaranteed.

 

[Batman]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

He just didn't get to it. One of those balls that's in between the two guys, and was just out of the third baseman's reach. Definitely not an error. If the shortstop isn't backing up the play, it's a clean single to left.
For the record, the folks in the pressbox talked me into chalking it up as a fielder's choice. They thought the shortstop had a shot at the batter. I was watching the shortstop, though, and it was a fairly slow grounder in the hole, plus he was going to his right and would've had to take that extra step to set up and make a long throw. The batter wasn't terribly slow, so I'm thinking he'd have beaten the throw for a hit.
I listened to them, then had scorer's remorse later on.

So were you the official scorekeeper or were you keeping score for a story?

If you were the official scorekeeper, I'd probably rule it a hit if you didn't think they SS had a chance to throw out the runner.

If you were keeping a book for a story, you would need to check with the home team's official book to see how they ruled it.

Ace, unless it's Steve Balboni tied to Greg Luzinski running to first, it's a base hit.

Sounds that way, but our Batboy got led astray by the pressbox wags.

Exactly, Ace. Guess I'm still young and impressionable. And I was keeping score for a story. It was a high school game, so it was a high school shortstop making the throw. That should've factored into the decision. If I had it to do over again, it's a hit all the way and I tell them to shut their yaps.

Having done some scoring for a minor league baseball team, I can only offer what my ruling would likely have been:
Hit.
The reason: The SS fielded a grounder deep in the hole and would have had to make a great throw just to have a shot at the runner at 1B. The decision to try at third was a last-ditch effort on the part of the SS because he knew that was his best chance at an out, but no out was guaranteed.

That was my initial reasoning, too. The SS weighed his options in that split second, didn't think he'd make the play, and made the last-ditch effort at the runner in an attempt to salvage something of the play. If the runner stays at second and the SS eats the ball, it's a hit. If the runner goes to third right away, he's safe by a mile and it's a hit. If the SS stands there and lets the runner go to third because no one is covering, it's a hit.
It seems like you're penalizing the batter for the heads-up play of both the runner (to go to third) and SS (not to risk a wild throw on a difficult play), as well as the hustle of the SS (to try and get the out on his own when he saw the runner breaking).

 

[HandsomeHarley]

Sounds pretty cut and dry to me. Base hit.

If you really aren't sure about a play, always side with a hit over an error.

 

[CentralIllinoisan]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

He just didn't get to it. One of those balls that's in between the two guys, and was just out of the third baseman's reach. Definitely not an error. If the shortstop isn't backing up the play, it's a clean single to left.
For the record, the folks in the pressbox talked me into chalking it up as a fielder's choice. They thought the shortstop had a shot at the batter. I was watching the shortstop, though, and it was a fairly slow grounder in the hole, plus he was going to his right and would've had to take that extra step to set up and make a long throw. The batter wasn't terribly slow, so I'm thinking he'd have beaten the throw for a hit.
I listened to them, then had scorer's remorse later on.

So were you the official scorekeeper or were you keeping score for a story?

If you were the official scorekeeper, I'd probably rule it a hit if you didn't think they SS had a chance to throw out the runner.

If you were keeping a book for a story, you would need to check with the home team's official book to see how they ruled it.

Ace, unless it's Steve Balboni tied to Greg Luzinski running to first, it's a base hit.

Sounds that way, but our Batboy got led astray by the pressbox wags.

New Fantasy team name: The Pressbox Wags

 

[Ace]

Exactly, Ace. Guess I'm still young and impressionable. And I was keeping score for a story. It was a high school game, so it was a high school shortstop making the throw. That should've factored into the decision. If I had it to do over again, it's a hit all the way and I tell them to shut their yaps.
[

If you were keeping score for a story, I'd say it doesn't matter what you think. I would find out who is keeping the home book and see how they scored it.

 

[Central-KY-Kid]

Exactly, Ace. Guess I'm still young and impressionable. And I was keeping score for a story. It was a high school game, so it was a high school shortstop making the throw. That should've factored into the decision. If I had it to do over again, it's a hit all the way and I tell them to shut their yaps.
[

If you were keeping score for a story, I'd say it doesn't matter what you think. I would find out who is keeping the home book and see how they scored it.

If that's the case, should we sacrifice accuracy to our readers because of homerish/idiot stat keeping? I know, I know, the home book is "official." But official and accurate are not always interchangeable.

If I went by the home book in yesterday's prep softball game, the tiebreaking hit in the bottom of the sixth changes from a two-run single to a three-RBI/three-run double. Granted three runs scored on the play, but the final runner scored only after a throw home to get the runner originally at second base AND a throw from home to second to get the batter. And the batter (fairly slow) didn't go to second until she saw the throw from the outfield was headed for home.

 

[Simon_Cowbell]

Error if scorekeeper determines 3B should have made the play.

Yeah, that's what I'm wondering about. I guess it depends on what "misses it" really means.

So... let me get this right.

A ball has to hit the glove of an outfielder to have a chance of being an error, but doesn't have to hit the glove of an infielder?

Wacky.

 

[Ace]

Exactly, Ace. Guess I'm still young and impressionable. And I was keeping score for a story. It was a high school game, so it was a high school shortstop making the throw. That should've factored into the decision. If I had it to do over again, it's a hit all the way and I tell them to shut their yaps.
[

If you were keeping score for a story, I'd say it doesn't matter what you think. I would find out who is keeping the home book and see how they scored it.

If that's the case, should we sacrifice accuracy to our readers because of homerish/idiot stat keeping? I know, I know, the home book is "official." But official and accurate are not always interchangeable.

If I went by the home book in yesterday's prep softball game, the tiebreaking hit in the bottom of the sixth changes from a two-run single to a three-RBI/three-run double. Granted three runs scored on the play, but the final runner scored only after a throw home to get the runner originally at second base AND a throw from home to second to get the batter. And the batter (fairly slow) didn't go to second until she saw the throw from the outfield was headed for home.

I know I would not want to be writing a story about a key play that could be ruled a hit or an error and decide on my own that it is an error on Podunk. I write the story that way only to have a host of calls from Podunk parents claiming it was a hit and having to explain that to the boss.

 

[Batman]

I know I would not want to be writing a story about a key play that could be ruled a hit or an error and decide on my own that it is an error on Podunk. I write the story that way only to have a host of calls from Podunk parents claiming it was a hit and having to explain that to the boss.

I like to think part of the reason they keep me around is because I'm skilled and smart enough to tell the difference in most cases. If it's borderline, I'll usually be nice and rule it a hit. If it's extremely questionable I will seek out several opinions (either ask someone else sitting in the press box, or the coach if I'm down on the field).