Outfielder sliding for a ball

by mike
(AZ)

Mike asked:

We had a debate on a ball that was hit to center field and the outfielder came in on the play and slide for the ball that hit his glove but; he was unable to come up with it...hit or error.

Rick answered: Great question Mike!

Hits or errors, in those type of situations, are all judgement based by the official scorer.

At the professional level, there is an official scorer at every stadium.

As you move backward through the system, the official scorer becomes the home team book keeper, or even further down quite possibly a parent sitting in the stands. It is a varied as the individual situations.

Items taken into consideration are:

1. Did the ball take a bad hop?

2. Were the sun or field lights a factor?

3. In the scorer's opinion, should the ball have been caught with reasonable effort?

4. Did the player dive because it was an attempt at a great play, or did he dive because the ball was initially misplayed, causing the need to dive?

Hope that helps you out with the situation.

Yours in baseball,

Rick