Scoring Question: Error vs. Hit

[Rich Ives]

Originally Posted by mbyron

You don't seem to understand what an 'error' is. It's a scorekeeping device to explain a baserunner who becomes one not through his skill but through the defense's lack thereof. No baserunner (as on a dropped foul), nothing to explain, no error.

Scorekeeping is about tracking offense. The defense misplayed a foul ball and lost an out. That's a mistake, no doubt, but not an error properly so called. Since no one can possibly score on this play, scorekeeping doesn't account for it.

The batter got a hit and his run, if he scores, will be earned (barring other errors). That he might have been put out is irrelevant from the standpoint of tracking offense. Let it go.

Don't look for a work-around: your software is right.

A dropped foul popup is an error.

10.12 (a) The official scorer shall charge an error against any fielder:
(1) whose misplay (fumble, muff or wild throw) prolongs the time at bat of a batter, prolongs the presence on the bases of a runner or permits a runner to advance one or more bases, unless, in the judgment of the official scorer, such fielder deliberately permits a foul fly to fall safe with a runner on third base before two are out in order that the runner on third shall not score after the catch;