Weird Play

[sandlot]

Never saw this before but it happened today at the Dodgers-Padres game in Beijing: Man on 3rd. Pitcher throws to the catcher, umpire calls pitch. Catcher tries to throw ball back to the mound, but ball hits batter's bat and ricochets into no-man's land. While everyone's looking confused, the runner comes home from 3rd. I have no idea how you would score this.

[bob]

I would guess a fielders error, although if i was in the batters situation i would have a go at getting an RBI.

[Dodgerfan1]

It could possibly be a discretionary call, as well, depending on whether the umpire thought the batter intentionally interfered with the throw, I would imagine. I don't know why a catcher would make a throw with the batter (or his bat) in the way. Usually, he would wait for the batter to step back out before throwing back to the pitcher. That is pretty weird!

[ipitch]

I don't know what the rule is, but it really should be a dead ball. If it's not, then it could lead to batters trying to get their bat hit on purpose to score a cheap run. Just like a batter that intentionally gets hit by a pitch is not awarded first base.

[bluezebra]

I don't know what the rule is, but it really should be a dead ball. If it's not, then it could lead to batters trying to get their bat hit on purpose to score a cheap run. Just like a batter that intentionally gets hit by a pitch is not awarded first base.

If the batter makes no intentional move to hinder F2's throw, why punish the batter for F2's poor throw.

Runners advance at their own risk. If any runner(s) advance, and none is put out, charge F2 with a throwing error. If a runner scores, it's unearned, at that point.

Bob

[ipitch]

If the batter makes no intentional move to hinder F2's throw, why punish the batter for F2's poor throw.

How do you know it was a poor throw? The batter may have moved his bat as the catcher let go of the ball. I've seen it happen a few times. It seems unlikely the catcher is always to blame.

[Brian McKenna]

Even if he moved his bat - so what? The point becomes - did the batter intentionally act to interfere. The presumption is that the catcher should know how to get the ball back to the pitcher. Like every other play on the field, it's based on the umpire's judgment.

[Macker]

How do you know it was a poor throw? The batter may have moved his bat as the catcher let go of the ball. I've seen it happen a few times. It seems unlikely the catcher is always to blame.

It doesn't always seem fair, but it sure wasn't the pitcher's fault. That's why it's an error and an unearned run if one scores. The same things happens sometimes when outfielders make a great throw. I saw Fred Lynn once throw a pea to third base. It was headed directly to the thirdbaseman's glove. The runner slid in, the throw bounced off the runner, and the runner scored. Lynn threw the ball just as you would hope a fielder would throw the ball, but he was charged with an error.