Error or hit?

[frachel]

So as the kids on the team get older (10U now), I'm trying to be a little more "real" with the stats (ie, passed balls and wild pitches vs just calling everything a stolen base).

My question is this (since it happened twice in the game today). The other team hits a fly (or high popup if you like) to shallow center field. Our center fielder reacts slowly, jogs in then stops so the ball drops. Never touched it, but he definitely SHOULD have caught it. Second time was same thing, SS and 2B were running out and CF was running in, and they all stop and ball drops.

As a coach, these are "errors" to me since they are clearly mistakes by the kids on plays that should easily be made.. but officially scoring, what are they considered?

One more - didn't happen today, but does a lot.. man on 2nd, grounder to either SS or 3B.. they hold the runner, but too long, and their throw is late so the guy on 1st is safe. Again as coach its an "error" in that they didn't do what they were supposed to, but what about officially?

[frachel]

Thanks to FTMSupport's response to another thread, think I found my answer(s)!

[ixamnis]

I'd like to know what the answer was without looking for the other thread. I always assumed that if no fielder touched the ball there was no error even if they should have fielded the ball.... then I saw a MLB game this spring where the center fielder and the left fielder were trying to get to a fly ball and realized they were going to run into each other so both fielders stopped and the ball sailed between them without either one touching it. they assigned an error to the left fielder. I could have assigned a lot more errors in my girl's fastpitch scorekeeping career if lack of effort or avoidance of a collision was a legitimate reason to.

[OhioTex]

My two cents-

official scored Errors are very subjective and are in the eye of the beholder. and it changes based on the level of ball you play/expect. Little league to MLB.

I also believe it helps to understand 'official scorer errors' are a subset of what inevitably a coach would call "total errors" that could include misplays, misjudgments, and mistakes as well as wild pitches and passed balls balks etc . that technically fall outside of 'occicial book errrors' when it comes to hits , batting averages and earned unearend runs and era.

the best advice is be consistent. and realize it is subjective.

here is an except from MLB on Errors, just to refresh our memories.

MLB 10.12 Excerpt....
...It is not necessary that the fielder touch the ball to be charged with an error. If a ground ball goes through a fielder's legs or a fly ball falls untouched and, in the scorer's judgment, the fielder could have handled the ball with ordinary effort, the official scorer shall charge such fielder with an error. For example, the official scorer shall charge an infielder with an error when a ground ball passes to either side of such infielder if, in the official scorer’s judgment, a fielder at that position making ordinary effort would have fielded such ground ball and retired a runner. The official scorer shall charge an outfielder with an error if such outfielder allows a fly ball to drop to the ground if, in the official scorer’s judgment, an outfielder at that position making ordinary effort would have caught such fly ball. If a throw is low, wide or high, or strikes the ground, and a runner reaches base who otherwise would have been put out by such throw, the official scorer shall charge the player making the throw with an error.
The official scorer shall not score mental mistakes or misjudgments as errors unless a specific rule prescribes otherwise. A fielder’s mental mistake that leads to a physical misplay—such as throwing the ball into the stands or rolling the ball to the pitcher’s mound, mistakenly believing there to be three outs, and thereby allowing a runner or runners to advance—shall not be considered a mental mistake for purposes of this rule and the official scorer shall charge a fielder committing such a mistake with an error. The official scorer shall not charge an error if the pitcher fails to cover first base on a play, thereby allowing a batter-runner to reach first base safely. The official scorer shall not charge an error to a fielder who incorrectly throws to the wrong base on a play.