In MLB, plays that were once errors are now hits, as players wonder why
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By Andy McCullough and Zack Meisel
Aug 9, 2023
On June 16, in the third inning of a game against the Yankees at Fenway Park, Red Sox infielder Pablo Reyes chopped a grounder into the dirt in front of home plate. The baseball bounced toward third baseman Josh Donaldson, who fumbled the transfer out of his glove. Reyes reached base safely.
The next batter, outfielder Alex Verdugo, sprinted through the bag after Yankees first baseman Anthony Rizzo ranged to his right to secure a check-swing dribbler — only to find rookie pitcher Matt Krook had neglected to cover first base. An inning later, Rizzo bobbled a groundball off the bat of outfielder Masataka Yoshida.
None of the balls were hit particularly hard; Yoshida recorded the speediest exit velocity at 75.3 mph. None of the balls reached the outfield. Yet all received the same assessment from the official scorer: These were hits, not errors. The sequence encapsulated a trend that has become notable to those inside and outside of baseball this season.
“This year more than any other,” Yankees pitching coach Matt Blake said, “you look up and you’re like, ‘How is that a hit?’”
That sentiment has been vocalized often by broadcasters throughout the season, but those in the announcing booth have not been the only ones to notice, according to interviews with players, coaches and managers, several of whom requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the situation. The voices formed a chorus, suggesting the scorers are less willing than ever to register a misplay in the field as an error.
“It’s become very lenient,” one manager said.
Another coach added: “It’s almost like guys now are like, ‘Well, if it’s not a routine ball, they’re getting hits.’”
“They have definitely loosened that up,” Marlins reliever David Robertson said. “And it needs to be taken into account that in the big leagues, guys can play defense, and they need to play defense. It’s part of their job. I think a lot of plays are like, ‘Oh, well, he had to move two steps to his left.’ Well, you have to move two steps to your left to catch it. They sit there and they go, ‘Oh, the ball was hit this hard.’ Well, it hit him right in the glove.”
For the first time since 2019, the sport’s collective batting average has risen year over year, improving from .243 last season to .248 heading into Wednesday’s games. The number of errors has fallen to the lowest tally per game in recorded history, 0.51, part of a gradual decline dating back to the 1970s. The league-wide fielding percentage, .986, is also an all-time high.
The rise in batting average and fall in errors come during a season in which Major League Baseball implemented a series of new rules designed to improve the pace of play and generate more action on the field, including the use of a pitch clock, restrictions on infield shifting and larger bases. Some within the game view the increase in hits as more than a coincidence.
“Everything’s a hit,” Angels pitcher Patrick Sandoval said. “I have a little conspiracy about it: That they are telling the scorers to be more lenient with the hits so they can be like, ‘Oh, the new rules work. You have more hits.’”
Chris Marinak, MLB’s chief operations and strategy officer, described these developments as a potential unintended consequence of the new rules, rather than part of a campaign designed to promote them. “I can tell you very clearly there has been no directive from MLB to score more hits versus errors this year, as it relates to the new rules or anything else, frankly,” Marinak said. A better explanation, Marinak insisted, is two-fold: Scorers are under pressure to make quicker judgments thanks to the pitch clock, and viewers are looking at a slightly different game and different types of action due to the reduction in shifts. What qualified as a routine play in 2022, Marinak said, was no longer routine in 2023, and under heightened time pressure, scorers may default to leniency.
“It’s not different because of some directive or aspiration from Major League Baseball,” Marinak said. “It’s just different because the game is being played a little bit differently.”
In recent years, though, Major League Baseball has altered its oversight of official scorers in hopes of standardizing their decisions across the sport. Since the pandemic-altered season of 2020, when scorers were not permitted inside ballparks, the league has provided an increased array of “different video resources to help them make decisions,” in addition to Statcast data related to exit velocity and hit probability, Marinak said. The league strove for consistent rulings, similar to its approach with umpiring and instant replay. But it also provided some input, making the once solitary decisions of the official scorer into more of a group effort at times: The league created a Slack channel so scorers could communicate with each other during games, in addition to “a two-way communication vehicle” that connected scorers to the central office to discuss close calls, Marinak said.
The new tools are all geared toward uniformity, according to some scorers, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely about the situation. When a reporter for The Athletic contacted several scorers, MLB director of official scoring Tyler Barton emailed the reporter to explain that MLB employees were “prohibited from speaking with any media” without approval from the league.
After surveying the scorers in July, last week the league altered the in-game communication system with the MLB office because some scorers felt it distracting. It is now a one-way system where scorers can reach out when they feel they need help. Eliminating distractions is crucial, Marinak explained, because “the scorers feel like they’re under additional pressure this year, because of the pitch clock and the reduced amount of time that they have to make decisions.”
There are several reasons for that push for standardization, but one stands out. With fans in many states now able to legally place bets on every game, every inning, every at-bat — and in some cases, being paid out in real-time — players, executives and even scorers have pinpointed sports betting as part of the impetus for the league’s more hands-on approach to scoring. A hit in one city ought to be a hit in another, one scorer said.
Marinak said that they would be striving for consistency and uniformity in scoring regardless of whether betting was now legalized, but acknowledged that sports betting is a consideration. “The fact that sports betting got legalized in the United States, however many years ago, I think by definition it has an impact on the level of attention we pay to integrity with regards to the scoring process,” he said. “There’s no question about it.”
MLB is not the only league seeking greater uniformity. The NBA, which embraced sports betting earlier than the other pro leagues, oversees statistical decision-making from its offices in Secaucus, N.J., where a third scorekeeper, in addition to the two on-site, reviews each play and finalizes the box score at the end of the game.
Marinak said MLB does not intend to centralize all of its scoring in one location. He stressed the importance of scorers being able to see the game live from inside the ballpark while supplementing their view with data when needed. “We really feel like we try to empower our scorers to take that accountability, but also to give them the tools and let them make the decision of what they think is helpful for them to make the best call possible,” Marinak said.
These elements have led to some curious decisions in 2023, uniformed personnel interviewed by The Athletic said. There are examples littered throughout the season. When Robertson failed to glove a well-struck grounder in late May, Phillies outfielder Brandon Marsh received credit for a hit. “I reached out, thought I had it and it hit right off the tip of my glove,” Robertson said. “But I should’ve caught it.”
During a July game in Cleveland, Phillies second baseman Bryson Stott ranged a few steps to his right but tumbled to the ground while trying to scoop a grounder. Guardians first baseman Josh Naylor received credit for a hit. “That would have been an error 10 years ago,” one scorer said.
Two days later in Anaheim, Pirates infielder Nick Gonzales hit a sinking liner toward shortstop Andrew Velasquez, who failed to pick the baseball. Gonzales got credit for a single.
“Usually when I come out of the game,” Sandoval said, “I’m like, ‘That was a hit? They gave that a hit?’”
In order to determine an error, the official scorer is expected to factor into the process a concept known as “ordinary effort,” which MLB defines as “a fielder of average skill at a specific position should exhibit on a play.” After years in which teams could overload infields to siphon up grounders, the shift restrictions may have altered the perception of observers about the ease with which plays should be made, Marinak said.
“You’re seeing more plays where, ‘Oh, hey, that should be a routine out,’ or whatever,” he said. “But it’s not, because a guy has to go (move) into the hole. He has to make an extraordinary effort to make a play. And we’re seeing more of that this year than we had last year.”
And the ticking clock may make scorers less willing to charge an error when uncertain.
“Human nature is that you’re going to be reticent to say that someone made a mistake unless you are confident that you have the data and information to back it up,” Marinak said.
The situation, of course, tends to bother pitchers more than hitters — several pitchers raised the issue of arbitration, and how the reduction in errors may cost pitchers real money when arbitration salaries are determined.
“As a reliever in particular, you have a two-out error that’s classified a hit and you end up with a three-spot instead of zero runs, that’ll ruin a month,” Astros reliever Ryne Stanek said. “It drastically shifts arbitration guys, I think.”
MLB does afford players the opportunity to appeal scoring decisions. The league utilizes a five-person panel — former players Gregor Blanco, Rajai Davis, Raul Ibañez and Dan Otero, plus an official scorer who did not make the initial call — to decide appeals. The council recently overturned a play from July that initially cost Cubs pitcher Justin Steele five earned runs after second baseman Nico Hoerner failed to field a grounder that bounced off his glove. Hoerner, Cubs manager David Ross said afterward, “makes that play 99 out of 100 times, right? That’s a pretty routine play in the big leagues.” Eventually, the council agreed and removed the earned runs from Steele’s ledger.
But the process does not always end with happy resolutions. Yankees pitcher Gerrit Cole said he had challenged 10 plays during his 11-year career. “And I’ve gotten none of them overturned,” he said. “I’m 0-for-10. And there’s some ones that I still believe are not hits.”
Last week in Miami, new Marlins addition Jake Burger hit a grounder to the left side of the infield. The exit velocity registered at 71.9 mph. Phillies shortstop Trea Turner took a few steps and dropped his glove. The baseball clanked off the leather and dribbled across the dirt.
“(Let’s) see how they score that one …” the Marlins broadcaster said.
The verdict came back before the next pitch could be thrown. It was a hit.
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