Runner on 1st and takes off after the pitch is released. The catcher throws down to 2nd, but neither middle infielder breaks for 2nd base in time to arrive at the base when the ball gets there. The ball goes into center field and the runner advances to third. Does the catcher get charged with a stolen base?
Should this be charged against a catcher?
- Thread starter UB40
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Stolen base, E2 on the throw/advance to third, and I tell my catcher she did the right thing before having a chat with whichever infielder was supposed to be covering.
Yes it is recorded as a stolen base, and also an error against the catcher on the runners advance to 3B.
Follow up question. Same situation, but this time the short stop makes it to the 2nd base bag on time. The ball is cleaning thrown by the catcher, it enters the short stops mitt then it pops out and the runner is safe at second. Is the catcher charged with a stolen base in that situation as well?
Yes.
I should elaborate a bit. Stolen bases as a statistic are credited to the runner and are not charged to the catcher. Same with 'Caught Stealing'. See the section on stolen base recording here and note that all the wording is about assigning the result of an attempted steal to the runner:
Yes I know people track % caught stealing and that is generally associated with the catcher, but technically that isn't how the stat is tracked on a scorebook. Technically a catcher is credited with a 'throw out' when a player is caught stealing
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Thanks. It bothers DD to see the SB, SB-ATT, and CS stats on Game Changer in the catcher's stat, when she is making clean throws and the middle infield is not doing their jobs.
In this situation, it should actually be recorded as a caught stealing (and an assist) and an error on the infielder who dropped the ball. There is some subjectivity here because it's up to the scorer to decide if the runner would have been out had the infielder not dropped the good throw, and a bang-bang play where say the fielder is catching the ball and trying to tag right as the runner gets there and doesn't field the ball cleanly is not an error.
If there's any doubt, I'm going in favor of a stolen base though. It has to be pretty obvious that the runner should have been out. Not "well, a clean catch and a nice swipe tag and the runner is probably out."
Also, in the Nobody Covers the Base situation, NFHS scoring rules actually say to assign the error to the fielder who "should have" covered the base (but ONLY if the runner advances an extra base), so I stand corrected on that if you're going by NFHS scoring rules.
