Hit or Error? How Official Scorers Decide
The official scorer decides whether a ball is a hit or an error by asking what a fielder could do with ordinary effort. Learn the test, the common cases, what changes when the call is wrong and how rulings can be appealed.
Every ball that a batter puts in play and a fielder touches carries a question that has nothing to do with the physics of the play: is this a hit, or is it an error? The answer is written into the box score by one person, the official scorer, and it affects a batting average, an earned run average, a no-hitter and sometimes a batting title. The rules supply a standard, but the standard is a judgment call, which is why scoring decisions cause arguments in every ballpark in the country.
This article explains the standard, walks through the common cases, shows what changes in the statistics when a ruling goes one way or the other, and describes how a decision can be reviewed. It also uses the historical record to show how much the error has faded from the game over 125 years.
What the scorer is deciding
A hit is credited to a batter who reaches first base safely on a fair ball that is not handled in a way that earns an error, a force-out or a fielder's choice. An error is charged to a fielder whose misplay prolongs a batter's turn, extends a runner's time on the bases or allows a runner to advance, on a play that the rules say should be made with ordinary effort. The two definitions are written to be mirror images. If a play is not an error, and the batter reached safely on a ball in play, the scorer will usually call it a hit, and vice versa.
The scorer is a person appointed for the game, not a computer and not an umpire. In the major leagues the scorer sits in the press area and makes the call within moments of the play, sometimes before the replay is available. The rules that govern the decisions are in the Official Baseball Rules, in the scoring section currently numbered 9.05 for hits and 9.12 for errors. The wording below is a paraphrase, so consult the current rules for the exact text.
The ordinary-effort test
The key phrase is ordinary effort. The rules ask what a fielder of average skill at the position, playing in the conditions of the game, would have done with a normal attempt. If that fielder would have handled the ball, the misplay is an error. If he would have needed a special effort, such as a diving stop, a long run or a play made at the limit of his range, then missing it is not an error and the batter gets a hit.
The standard has two consequences. The first is that the same physical event can be scored differently depending on the fielder and the ball: a routine grounder that passes under the glove of a shortstop at his position is an error, while a sharply hit ball deflected by the same glove while he lunges is a hit. The second is that conditions count. A ball that skips on a bad infield hop, a throw into the sun or a wet field affects what ordinary effort means that day, and the scorer is expected to weigh it.
Common cases, and how they are usually scored
The table sorts frequent situations. In each, the call depends on what the scorer believes an ordinary effort would have done.
| Play | Usual call | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Routine ground ball goes through a fielder's legs and the batter is safe | Error | A normal effort would have handled it |
| Sharply hit grounder is deflected by a diving fielder who cannot hold it | Hit | The play needed more than ordinary effort |
| Fielder bobbles a ground ball but throws in time to retire the batter | No error, an out | The batter was retired, so no misplay prolonged anything |
| Fielder bobbles the ball and, with a clean fielding, still would not have retired the batter | Hit | The batter would have been safe anyway |
| Fielder handles a slow roller cleanly but his throw is late | Hit | Being late is not an error |
| Fielder throws wildly past first base and the batter takes second | Error | A wild throw is an error when it lets a runner advance |
| First baseman drops a good throw and the batter is safe | Error on the first baseman | He failed to hold a catchable throw |
| Fly ball falls between two outfielders who could both have caught it | Error on the fielder the scorer judges should have made the play | Ordinary effort would have caught it |
| Fielder drops a foul fly | Error, even if the batter later makes an out | The mistake prolonged the at-bat |
The foul-fly entry surprises people. Under the rules as written, a misplay of a foul fly that gives the batter another chance is an error even if that batter then strikes out or flies out. The error is charged because the play was prolonged, not because the batter reached base.
What an error does not include
Scoring has several categories of play that look like mistakes but are not errors. The first is mental mistakes. If an infielder throws to the wrong base, forgets the number of outs or fails to cover a bag, he made a mental error that the scorer does not record as an error unless a physical misplay also occurs. The second is a failure to make a play that would require extraordinary effort. The third is slowness: a fielder who takes too long to field and throw has not committed an error unless he mishandles the ball.
Some misplays are charged elsewhere. A wild pitch or a passed ball is not an error, and the pitcher and catcher are charged with those by a different set of rules. Those are covered in the scorebook guide to wild pitches, passed balls and stolen bases. A runner who advances on an error is not credited with a stolen base, and an error can be charged to a pitcher, for instance on a poor pickoff throw. Catcher's interference, in which the catcher touches the bat, is scored as an error on the catcher and puts the batter on first base.
Why the call changes the numbers
A hit is a hit for the batter: it adds to his hits and his batting average. An error does the opposite. The batter is charged with an at-bat but no hit, so his average drops, and the on-base percentage formula, which counts hits, walks and hit-by-pitch only, gives him no credit for reaching on the error.
The effect on a season is smaller than it seems in the moment but real. A hitter with 600 at-bats and 180 hits is batting .300. If five of those calls had gone the other way, he would have 175 hits and an average of .292. Five rulings can turn a .300 season into a .292 season, which is why the margins in batting races attract complaints.
For a pitcher the effect runs through the earned run average. Take a half-inning with two outs and a runner on first, and a ground ball that the shortstop boots. The inning should have ended on that play. If the next batter hits a two-run homer, the scorer reconstructs the inning as though the error had been an out, and under the rules neither run is earned. If the same grounder had been scored a hit, the runs would be earned. The calculation of earned and unearned runs is spelled out in the guide to earned and unearned runs, and it is one reason pitchers have a stake in scoring.
The hit that decides a no-hitter
The most visible scoring calls come in games where a pitcher has not allowed a hit. A no-hitter is a statistical event as much as a physical one: it requires that every batter who reached did so by a walk, a hit batter, an error or another means that is not a hit. When an infielder has to charge a slow roller in the sixth inning, the scorer's decision can decide whether history is recorded.
The scorers therefore apply the same ordinary-effort test, but with more scrutiny. In close cases a scorer can review video before settling on the decision. The rules also allow the scorer to change a ruling after the play, which is a necessary power, since a replay can show something the scorer missed in real time.
How a ruling can be appealed
The decision is not final at the moment of announcement. The official scorer may revise a ruling after the game, and a player or club that disagrees can ask the league office to review it. The review is limited by a deadline set in the rules, and the league may uphold or overturn the decision. Because the exact window and procedure have changed over the years, check MLB's published scoring rules for the current details.
A review is not supposed to turn the scoring judgment into a matter of preference. The question for the reviewer is the same as for the scorer: would an ordinary effort have made the play? A fielder's reputation, the score of the game and the stakes of a batting race are not part of the test.
A worked inning: four plays, four decisions
Consider an inning with no one out. The first batter hits a chopper over the mound that the second baseman charges, fields cleanly and throws to first a step late: a hit, because being late is not an error. The second batter hits a routine grounder to the shortstop, who lets it roll under his glove: an error, and the batter is charged with an at-bat but no hit. The third batter lines a ball into the gap that the left fielder reaches with a full-out dive and cannot hold: a hit, because the catch required more than ordinary effort. The fourth batter pops up in foul territory, and the third baseman drops it; the batter then walks. The drop is an error even though the batter did not reach base on the play, because it prolonged his turn.
Add it up. The pitcher has been charged with two hits and a walk, while the defense has two errors, and any run that scores in the rest of the inning is judged against the reconstruction of what would have happened without the errors. The scorer has made four judgments in about five minutes, each one defensible, and none of them anything a fan could compute from the replay alone.
How the error has faded: 125 years of data
The historical record counts errors for each team and season, which lets us see something that fans notice only in passing: the game has become much cleaner. The table shows errors per team per game in the American and National Leagues.
| Year | Errors per team-game | League batting average |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 2.40 | .272 |
| 1910 | 1.78 | .249 |
| 1920 | 1.41 | .277 |
| 1930 | 1.23 | .296 |
| 1950 | 0.94 | .266 |
| 1980 | 0.86 | .265 |
| 2000 | 0.71 | .270 |
| 2023 | 0.52 | .248 |
| 2025 | 0.50 | .245 |
In 1901 an average team committed 2.4 errors a game. In 2025 the figure was 0.5, a drop of about 79 percent. The usual explanations are better gloves and better-kept fields than the rough diamonds of the early 1900s. The number is also a reminder that an error is a judgment, and the standards applied by scorers may have moved along with the equipment.
The error has a limit. It records a misplay, not a failure to reach a ball, so a fielder with poor range may make fewer errors than a better fielder who gets to more balls. That is why fielding percentage, which is putouts plus assists divided by putouts plus assists plus errors, is a weak measure of defensive skill. Modern tracking systems try to fill the gap by measuring how many balls a fielder reached, and the change in how teams evaluate defense reflects it.
Scoring a game yourself
If you keep a scorebook, the same rules apply to you. An error is marked with an E and the number of the fielder: E6 means an error by the shortstop. In the numbering used in scorebooks, the pitcher is 1, the catcher 2, the first baseman 3, the second baseman 4, the third baseman 5, the shortstop 6 and the outfielders 7, 8 and 9 from left to right. When you hesitate between a hit and an error, apply the ordinary-effort test, and if you are still unsure, give the batter the benefit of the doubt, as the rules direct in close cases. The site's scoresheet tool is a good place to practice.
Common questions
Can an official scorer change a ruling after the game? Yes. Rulings can be revised, and clubs and players can ask the league to review them, subject to the time limits in the rules.
Does reaching on an error count as a hit? No. The batter is charged with an at-bat and no hit, and the reach does not count toward on-base percentage.
Is a dropped foul ball always an error? If the misplay prolongs the batter's time at bat, the rules call for an error even if the batter then makes an out.
What is ordinary effort? The effort a fielder of average skill at the position would give a normal attempt, under the conditions of that game. A play that needs a dive or a long run is beyond it.
Why do errors matter for pitchers? Runs that score because of an error, or after an error that should have ended an inning, are unearned and do not count against the earned run average.
Where to go next
For another set of scoring conventions, read the guide to the save, the hold and the win, and try the scoresheet tool in the next game you watch. The stat calculator will show what a handful of hits and errors does to an average.