Reply to "FC or Hit"

Originally Posted by Baseball stats:

Runner on 2nd, ball hit deep in the hole between 3rd and SS.  Runner on 2nd has normal lead and does not initially advance as he reads the play.  Ss dives and gets a glove on the ball, ball ends up near ss.  Runner on 2nd thinks the ball is trough and no one is covering 3rd.  He attempts to advance.  Hitter is at or near first base when runner on 2nd starts to advances. Runner is tagged out by the shortstop near 3rd base.  I ruled a hit and then an out on runner trying to advance.  I saw it as two separate plays.  Partial reasoning was the hitter was actual rounding 1st base and saw the tag out at third.  Am I wrong, should this be scored FC?

Forget everything else for a second and concentrate on the BIP. “Typically”, when I see a fielder have to dive or run a long way and not field the ball cleanly, if the batter reaches 1^st safely he’s gonna get credit for a hit. In the above description it sure sounds as though the batter’s gonna get a hit in my book. Now look at the runner and you have a PO for F6 unassisted.

This is a pretty good example of why I prefer scoring using “Project Scoresheet” than the standard scoring method everyone’s used to. Using that method of scoring, each at bat has 3 parts. What takes place before the play, the actual play on the batter, and anything that took place because of or after the play.

In my scoring program, here’s what would happen. There are only 2 choices on every BIP. Either the batter was put out or he reached. In this case he reached, so how he reached has to be determined. In this case I’d choose “Infield Hit”, choose where it was fielded as a G56, choose who fielded it as the F6, player ID# 608. That’s the play. Now for the “Afterplay” part. Runner with Player ID# 212 who was the 1^st batter, is put out going from 2^nd to 3^rd by the F6 Player ID# 608 on the 6^th pitch of that at bat.

It would look like the attachment.

Page 1 is the scoresheet, page 2 is the defense’s numbers, page 3 is the hitter’s numbers, and page 4 is the pitcher’s numbers, page 5 is what the program shows after the play.

As you can see, the 1^st batter draws a walk. When the 2^nd batter is up, the runner steals 2^nd on the 2^nd pitch.  Then, on the play for the 2^nd batter, he reaches on an infield hit between short and 3^rd fielded by the F6. After the play, the runner on 2^nd gets put out at 3^rd by the F6.

I used to think of these things as 2 separate plays too. The only difference now is, I see it as different parts of the same at bat, and it sure seems easier for me.