Scoring question

Can a pitch that is a called strike ever be scored as a wild pitch?

Hmmmmmmmmm?

 

Swinging strike on a ball in the dirt that catcher doesnt receive, so I'm going to say yes

 

Thanks eagles 1313, but..........

My question is "can a CALLED strike (ie. a pitch that is called a strike by the umpire but the batter doesn't swing at) ever be scored as a wild pitch?

I realize that if the pitch is mishandled by the catcher and runner(s) advance, it almost always is scored as a passed ball. But, can it ever be scored as a wild pitch?

Specifically, last night at a local high school 3A-4A game, with a runner on first, the home plate umpire called the pitch a strike; ball got by the catcher and runner advanced. The guy scoring the game was the catcher's father. He booked the play as a wild pitch.

I am not saying he is biased but I repeat my question: "Can a called strike ever go into the books as a wild pitch? If yes, under what circumstances?

Thanks all,

 

Catcher thinks pitch out, scoots over at delivery, and pitcher fires right down the middle through strike zone by the catcher. Wild pitch or passed ball??

 

As with most scoring judgments, the question is: can the play be made with ordinary effort.

Answering is it possible to have a pitch be called a strike and be still judged to be a wild pitch -- yes

Example - Sharp breaking ball at the bottom of the zone is called a strike by the umpire and then breaks into the dirt and eludes the catcher. By rule, the scorer should assess a WP because the ball touch the dirt before getting to the catcher. I have copied that rule below.


Rule 10 defines the scorers responsibilities:

10.13 Wild Pitches And Passed Balls
A wild pitch is defined in Rule 2.00 (Wild Pitch). A passed ball is a statistic charged against a catcher whose action has caused a runner or runners to advance, as set forth in this Rule 10.13.

(a) The official scorer shall charge a pitcher with a wild pitch when a legally delivered ball is so high, so wide or so low that the catcher does not stop and control the ball by ordinary effort, thereby permitting a runner or runners to advance. The official scorer shall charge a pitcher with a wild pitch when a legally delivered ball touches the ground or home plate before reaching the catcher and is not handled by the catcher, thereby permitting a runner or runners to advance


Most often the case with high school score books are that they are scored by individuals that are not familiar with the rules for scoring, leading to wide discrepancies from team to team. The idea behind the scoring rules is to have some sort of uniformity. That is why the wild pitch rule has the clause about touching the dirt. It give the scorers a better chance to be consistence in the scoring of all games if the scoring rules are applied.

The game I attended last night, the third basemen made a diving stop of a hard hit ground ball, scrambles off his belly and throws a one hopper to the 1B who tried to scope it but it went off his glove. Batter/runner was safe at first and made no advance. To me, that is an easy play to score because the player made more than ordinary effort trying to make the play and should not be charge an error because his throw was in the dirt. The home team scorer was insisting that it should be an error because if the 1B scoops it cleanly, the batter would have been out. On this play you have to judge, but by using the “ordinary effort” standard you can come up consistently with the same ruling from game to game. If in this example the throw had bypassed the 1B and the batter/runner advanced to second, it still should be ruled a hit, and then an error allowing the runner to move up.

Hope this answers your question.

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