quote:Originally posted by biggerpapi:
Two outs, runner on third. Dropped third strike. Catcher doesn't make a play on the batter and rolls the ball to the mound. Batter safe at first, runner on third scores.
Shouldn't this be an error on the catcher?
Depends. Did the runner score because of the dropped 3rd strike, or an errant throw?
When I see questions like that, I always want more information because I didn’t see the play.
Did the ball touch the dirt prior to reaching the catcher?
Be more specific than “rolls the ball to the mound”. Are you saying he didn’t get the ball there in the air, or that he actually rolled it like a bowling ball?
Assuming the runner didn’t try to score on the pitch, but because of a throw, you have to figger out whether he’d have been put out or wouldn’t have tried to advance if the throw was a good one. Its easy to do when its something like a runner from 2nd steals 3rd, and scores when the throw goes into left field. Someone’s gonna get an error.
But things start getting screwy when you’re talking about pitchers and catchers not catching ball or making bad throws. FI, let’s say a runner tries to steal 2nd, and the throw skips to f4 or he drops the throw. Its extremely unlikely that any scorer who knows much about the game would charge an error.
So much depends on the timing of what happened, its difficult to state unequivocally that it would have been scored a certain way.