Umpires aren’t the only ones in baseball whose difficult judgement calls have a big impact on the game. Official scorers hold a lot of power over players’ stats by deciding the difference between hits and errors, singles and doubles and so on. It’s an inexact science, so it’s always bound to spark arguments.
In Sunday’s game against the Pirates, Angels shortstop Andrew Velazquez failed to field a ball hit to him. It was ruled a hit, but it sure looked like an error.
Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales hit a line drive right at Velazquez, who couldn’t field it cleanly. The ball dropped and allowed Gonzales to reach safely. He scored when the next batter, Liover Peguero, doubled.
This was just ruled a hit. You have got to be kidding me. pic.twitter.com/Hf1jhW8Dsc
— Kyle Glaser (@KyleAGlaser) July 23, 2023
The ball wasn’t hit very hard at all (81.5 mph exit velocity) and was hit right to Velazquez. It didn’t seem like a very difficult play, even though it was an in-between hop.
MLB defines an error as when a fielder “fails to convert an out on a play that an average fielder should have made.” The play wasn’t a routine one for Velazquez, but it wasn’t exactly a highlight reel one either. The official scorer could have gone either way on it, and Velazquez is fortunate that they decided to call it a hit. He’s already made two errors this season on just 41 chances at shortstop.
