Error to who?

.......rightfielder throws home to the catcher who sees that he/she has a better play at cutting down a runner than getting the out at home, so the catcher moves 6-7 feet up in front of the plate and BAM!, the ball, nice throw short hops the catcher, takes a "wet outfield skip" type of bounce. Yep, right under the mitt and rolls to the backstop.
Runner scores and all other runners advance......who gets the error and why?

Fishman

 

on the catcher if he should have caught it.

 

.....they gave the error to the RF, hhhhmmmmm, is there some scoring type rule that dictates something like this?
Marlin

 

Nope: scorekeeper's judgement.

 

I'll take a shot in the dark at this one. Error would be charged to the thrower on any ball that hits the dirt before arriving at the target that allows a runner (who would have been out if caught) to score or another runner to advance. If it hits the dirt, is caught then dropped or knocked out of the glove, error on the receiver. Reasoning behind my thinking; if the SS throws a one hopper to 1st that she can't handle, E-6, if a pitcher short hops a pitch to the catcher, even tho we EXPECT the catcher to sucessfully block it, it is a WP if a runner advances. I know we teach our Outfielders to one hop the ball in (so it will stay down), but it is not considered 'routine' for the receiver to catch it. Do we expect them to? Yes. My personal feeling is, stats are useful in showing tendencies ie. someone is hitting .250 but has 25 RBI in 4 games, she is doing a better job focusing with RISP. Sometimes we parents worry too much about stats and how they relate to OUR DD. We want to be able to say 'My DD made a good throw, their DD didn't catch it'. Why not congratulate the RF for making a strong throw, the C for recognizing there was maybe a better play to be made and trying to do it rather than decide who's fielding average is gonna drop? I'm just sayin'.

 

I score using my expectations. If I expect the right fielder to handle that fly ball and she drops it, then E9. If she runs her butt off and it goes in and out of her glove, then H.

A well placed one-hopper that should be caught is missed, then Receiving Error. A no-hopper that hits at the receiver's feet will be a Throwing Error.

 

Well, Fish, this is a tough question. I would have had to see it to be definitive. But the first question that always comes to mind is this: Could the catcher receive the ball with ordinary effort? From what it appears is that it took a "wet spot" skid and caused the ball to become extraordinary to catch. If that's the case, the error on the throw.

 

Agree

 

....if the catcher had stayed at the plate, the throw would have been an easy catch, maybe not an out.
To me, in this particular gig, i thought that the error should have been on the catcher, oh well

Fishdad

 

You are kind of forced to put the error on the throw here. You can't charge an error on the catcher for coming up to receive the ball and try to make a play elsewhere. If it shorthops her, that means she had to make a great play to get the ball. I think you are making it too complicated by putting that on the catcher.

Agreed that fielders are taught to have it come in low on the throw, but that means the throw has to be especially good for the play to result in an out and that is a lot to put on the receiver there. Besides, that assumes an out, so I wouldn't error on the run scoring. The error only advances the runners a base. Catcher's only getting an error if she fields cleanly and then mucks the tag or the next throw. Without seeing the play with my own eyes, I have to go off the explanation and that would be my interpretation.