First baseman playing about 5 feet in front of the bag. Batter slaps one-hopper back to the pitcher. For some reason, the first baseman charged the play and no one covered first. Pitcher has no one to throw to on what would have been an easy out.

Hit? Error on F3?

Are mental errors that result in no attempt automatically a hit?

Spence,

From OBR Rule 10.13(b):

"<b>NOTE (3) Mental mistakes or misjudgments are not to be scored as errors unless specifically covered in the rules.</b>"

The only one I'm aware of that is "specifically covered in the rules" is if a fielder fails to cover a base when an on target throw is made in an attempt to retire a runner.

JM

Hit.

And "not to be scored as errors" is not the same as "automatically a hit".

Sac bunt, F3 and F1 charge, F4 covers second on a wheel play. Mental error. Not scored as an error. But also not a hit. Still a Sac.

Is "misjudging" a fly ball a hit?

Well, a hit is done with a bat, and misjudging a fly usually is not.

But seriously, scorers look at whether the fly ball could have been caught with "ordinary effort" (this term appears several times in the discussion of scoring base hits in 10.05). If a "misjudged" fly could have been caught with ordinary effort, then score the error; otherwise, score the base hit.

There might be other possibilities as well: sacrifice, etc.

And, if the batter reaches base safely, it's also a fielder's choice.

Bob

The "ordinary effort" and "mental mistakes" seem to be at conflict. On one hand, the "ordinary effort" clause can cause it to be an error yet the clause that says to not penalize the defense for "judgment" would tilt the result towards a hit.

If F8 can catch a line drive with "ordinary effort" yet "misjudges" it and the ball goes over his head, what do you have?

I don't see the problem. If it can be caught with ordinary effort and he misjudges it, then it's an error. Otherwise, not.

This from 10.13 (Errors):

The provision for scoring the play you describe as an error is specifically covered in the rules, so this exception does not apply. The point is that misjudgment alone is NOT sufficient for scoring an error, whereas failing to make a play that requires only ordinary effort IS sufficient for scoring an error.