Fielder's Choice Issue

[nicett]

This is the situation:
man on first, no out
batter hits a ground ball to short who attempts a double play by throwing the ball to second, but it was a bad throw, so e-6
I scored it:
fielder's choice, then the fielders that handled the ball 6-4,
then what happened to runner on first: error on 6, batter held at first

The stats show a po for the short stop when no out was recorded. I then eliminated the fielders handling the ball and it corrected the stats.
Did I do something wrong?

[danmcc]

I just ran a test game with the scenario but it did not produce an PO for anyone.

in play, FC
ball placement
6-4 done
What happened to runner, error 6
What happened to batter, held up

[nicett]

The stats are definitely wrong. When you input the fielders who handled the ball (I.e. Shortstop and second base) shortstop is receiving an assist for an out that did not happened. FTM, on a fielder's choice where the runner going to second (or any othet base) and is safe, do you omit the fielders who handled the ball?

[FTMSupport]

If runners are safe on a fielders choice, then when it asks who handled the ball, there is no need to put anything. Just click Next when it asks who handled the ball since everyone is safe (there are no stats to be tracked when runners are safe). For the runner, mark Safe, Second, Error, Shortstop. For the batter-runner after the play, Held Up.

[plivengood]

If, instead of the error being on the SS, the error was on the 2B for dropping a good throw, isn't the SS supposed to be credited with an assist even though the runner reaches 2nd safely on the error? I thought I saw a post on this from Bryan just the other day....

I don't have my iPad in front of me, but I think I would score nicett's situation:

In Play
Safe
Fielder's Choice
Indicate hit location and type
Touch SS (I wouldn't touch 2B because no out was recorded there, and it wasn't 2B's error)
Done
When asked what happens to runner on 1st, indicate safe-second, error
Touch SS
When asked what happens to batter, indicate safe-first, held up.

I just checked on a test on my iTouch, which I do have handy - this sequence *does* produce a PO for the shortstop. If you do it as FTM suggests and do not touch the SS in #3 in the sequence above, no PO is recorded. But, if that is true, how do you accurately record an assist (if my memory is correct and the SS deserves one) if the error is on the 2B in this scenario for dropping a good throw from the SS? If you repeat the steps I took above, it would record a PO (not an assist) for the SS. If you tap 6-4 in the 3rd step above, it records an assist for the SS but a PO (and an error) for the 2B, which is right for the SS but incorrect for the 2B, who deserves no PO.

I a pretty sure that, in this latter scenario, the SS deserves an assist even though no PO was recorded. If I am wrong about that, then the obvious way to handle this is as FTM suggests - if no out is recorded, then don't touch any fielder in step three above.

[danmcc]

plivengood, part of the OP was the SS bad throw. If it were a good throw I think you are right about the assist for SS.

[plivengood]

I realize that the scenario presented was with a bad throw by the SS. I was simply responding to FTM's comment that "If runners are safe on a fielders choice, then when it asks who handled the ball, there is no need to put anything. Just click Next when it asks who handled the ball since everyone is safe (there are no stats to be tracked when runners are safe)."

My observation is simply that, if you change the scenario from bad throw by the SS to error on the catch by the 2B, then FTM's statement above may be incorrect if the SS is supposed to be credited with an assist, and the program doesn't handle this as it should.

[CSThunderCoach]

You are correct. Currently iScore does not know the difference between throwing and fielding errors. As such, there is no way to properly assign assists. I believe the throwing/fielding designation is slated for a future release, not sure about the assists. Right now, an error is an error and assists are not allowed.

[FTMSupport]

Assists on errors is something we have on our enhancement list. We have a whole thread dedicated to the topic:

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=986

Assists on successful put outs are of course recorded just fine.

You will notice the Fielders Choice says to "Only include the positions involved in making the out(s)". If the Fielders Choice did not result in any outs, then no positions should be touched. If you touch positions when no outs are made, then yes, they will be given assists.

[plivengood]

It is more than that. Again, if you change the scenario presented here from E6 to E4 for failing to catch a good throw, entering the play as FTM suggests deprives the SS of the assist he should get, and if you touch 6-4 and allow the runner on 1st to advance safely on the E4, the SS correctly gets the assist but the 2B incorrectly gets a PO recorded, plus the error.

If the SS is supposed to get an assist on such a play (as Bryan Shepherd suggested in another thread recently) then the program should be corrected to allow for that. That's all I am suggesting.