Bad Official Scoring

[poorme]

From Jim Caple's article in ESPN.COM
http://espn.go.com/mlb/columns/caple_jim/1373293.html

"It's to the point where no matter how badly a fielder bungles a ball, the scorer never feels he deserves an error. The ball took a tough hop. He lost it in the sun. He lost it in the lights. He was distracted by his contract negotiations. He hasn't slept well since his mistress left him. His throws are always a little off when he begins a new steroid cycle.

Many scorers virtually refuse to give a fielder an error unless he touches the ball, which is just ridiculous. An outfielder can treat a routine fly as if it was a subpoena from his wife's divorce lawyer, letting the ball drop unhindered six inches from his glove hand, yet the scorer will rule it a hit because he didn't touch it. "


I agree with him to a degree, but I think that the scorers have traditionally been too cautious with handing out errors.

[Craig S.]

I saw a play last night where Jimmy Anderson ripped a grounder right into Adrian Beltre's glove. Beltre was off-balance and had the ball come out of his glove. Even though it was an obvious errror, I just waited, knowing that it would be scored a single. Sure enough, it was a hit.

I don't want to see fielders punished, but an error is an error. Sure, balls take bad hops, but that's why you're a major leaguer, because you're supposed to be able to handle those. Same goes for misjudged fly balls. If you misjudge it, it's an error. This isn't Sunday afternoon softball.

On a similar note, they are also way too soft on catchers and passed balls, almost always choosing to score it as a wild pitch. It's like they're taking away the fielders' responsibility for their actions.

[poorme]

Originally posted by Craig S.
I saw a play last night where Jimmy Anderson ripped a grounder right into Adrian Beltre's glove. Beltre was off-balance and had the ball come out of his glove. Even though it was an obvious errror, I just waited, knowing that it would be scored a single. Sure enough, it was a hit.


I saw that exact play. It seems like as though if a play is anything but routine, they score it a hit. It seems to me though, that scorers were always like this, at least for the last 20 years.

[Skip]

Maybe we should just eliminate errors. That will solve all the problems in coming up with a useful, manageable method for rating defense.

Right? ;) :confuse2:

[poorme]

Originally posted by Skip
Maybe we should just eliminate errors. That will solve all the problems in coming up with a useful, manageable method for rating defense.

Right? ;) :confuse2:

Now that's the best idea yet!:hscheer:

[sweaver]

Errors made more sense around the turn of the last century, when fielders didn't have gloves or had very poor ones, and "range" was an unknown concept. You either fielded the ball hit toward you or didn't, and if you didn't it was an error. Now, it has become such a "judgment call," that I am with Skip: do away with the error. It is time for it to go!

[ChrisCary]

Why would an official scorer, employed by the home team give an eror to a home team player?
Who'd ever expect a guy to be impartial when he;s paid by one of the teams on the field.

Instead why shouldn;t an official scorer be paid by the league, issued and trained in a standard of scoring and travel with the officiating team - the umpires?

I've never gotten it.

[Skip]

Are the numbers too small (let alone unavailable) or would it be interesting to see BB stats history rewritten with no such thing as an error. I guess it really makes no difference in career numbers, but might have made a difference in some shorter term items (no-hitters, hitting streaks, etc.)

'Twould be cool to be able to run the numbers.

[Craig S.]

Originally posted by sweaver
Errors made more sense around the turn of the last century, when fielders didn't have gloves or had very poor ones, and "range" was an unknown concept. You either fielded the ball hit toward you or didn't, and if you didn't it was an error. Now, it has become such a "judgment call," that I am with Skip: do away with the error. It is time for it to go!

So any current play that would be scored an error would now be a hit? I'd take some shaky judgement calls over a blanket decision like that anytime. Hitters already have their numbers inflated because of a tiny strike zone and small stadiums. How many more brakes can we give them?

[WiredTiger]

I too have always thought the "he didn't touch it so it wasn't an error" rule was kind of stupid. I also think they should give out team errors or shared errors when two or more people are involved in a play.

[pwdennis]

If you think officials do a bad job you should look at some of the verdicts that juries and trial judges hand down in courtrooms. Makes official scorers look positively rational and fair-minded by comparison

[KCBOOMER]

Scorers tend to give the hometown boys a hit, but how they deal with the hometwon boys fielding seems to be a funciton of who's pitching. If it's a good pitcher then it's an error otherwise it is a hit.

I don't think we should forget that money is involved here. A hit helps a hitter make money more than it hurts a pitcher's money making efforts.

[moose]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
I don't think we should forget that money is involved here. A hit helps a hitter make money more than it hurts a pitcher's money making efforts.

Very good point KC - it's one thing to do it to make little leaguers feel better about themselves and another to skew the stats of professionals, not to mention undermine the integrity of the game.