Skipping batter & recording an out

[GatorBoy]

Over the weekend we had a injury to a player that required us to skip the batter. We were batting the entire lineup, so regardless if the call was correct or not it required us to skip the batter and take an out. I went to misc./skip batter/yes to record the out etc... and the out was shown correctly on the touch screen and switched offense/defense when 3 outs were made. However the out was not recorded on the scoresheet. Additionally this youth league has pitching limits based on outs, not pitch count or innings so the pitching stats shown this particular pitcher throwing 3 2/3 innings (11 outs) not 4 innings which would equate to 12 outs.

I don't believe this is a memory issue becasue this is the only app on my ipod. I don't use it for anything else.

Any suggestions?

Gatorboy

[FTMSupport]

We will take a look at this issue. Thank you.

[GatorBoy]

Has this issue been reported in the past? I searched your forum and couldn't find anything.

Regards,

Gatorboy

[FTMSupport]

This is the first time we have heard this issue, and have confirmed it is still an issue with 2.0. We will get it fixed for our next release.

It does bring up an interesting question though, and we are trying to research the "correct" way to handle this. We definitely need it to show on the scorecard, but the stats is a bit of a gray area right now. If a batter is out without the pitcher ever having thrown a pitch, should the pitcher be given credit for the out? A batter faced? It seems the answer may be no, but it is not clear and something we will need to figure out for the update.

Anyone want to way in on the "correct" way of handling a situation like this statistically?

[GatorBoy]

It is my interpretation that the out would be recored to the pitcher along with the (1/3) inning. I can't see it any differently than picking off a runner on base. The pitcher never through a pitch, but the out and inning would be recored to the pitcher, without ever throwing a pitch to the batter in the box.

Someone has to be the pitcher of record while the out and inning was recorded. Common sense says it's the guy standing on the mound while the out is recored to the batter being skipped. Hopefully I didn't come across sounding like a SA, wasn't trying too.

[FTMSupport]

In the case of a pickoff, the pitcher gets credit for the out because the out was made on a "faced batter". In the scenario described here, there isn't really a "batter faced". Does the pitcher still get credit for a batter faced even though no pitch is ever thrown? If three of these situations occurred in a row at the start of a game, a pitcher could get through the entire first inning with 0 balls, 0 strikes, 3 batters faced, and 1 inning pitched? That doesn't seem right statistically.

Would like to hear so more feedback, or if anyone has links that point to anything "official" on situations like this, that would be very helpful when we go to address this for the next release.

Thank you again GatorBoy for finding this issue.

[OhioTex]

gator boy.. you find some interesting ones....

I would think the way to score statistics in the sceenrio for little league rule taking an out if injury (this case) would be similar to takeing an out if less than 9 players .. would also be similar to the MLB scenerio when a player bats out of order and the rule called for team to take an out without a pitch.

Which by chance did happend this year in the bigs in May.. See Astros vs Brewers around May 20, 2009. I do not have that box score handy, (sorry) but look it up. If i recall, the pitcher gets credited with a zero pitch out (not that surpriseing) and I think the catcher gets credited for a put out. Would not be an at bat in the little league situation, but I can not recall if it is considered an official at bat in the MLB scenerio. look into that game and i think the stat treatment would be a good reference point.

[GatorBoy]

FTM... I realize there wasn't a "batter faced", but someone must be the pitcher of record for the "senarior" you described for that particular inning. You made a hypothetical senarior to make a point, which has probably never happend, but think of it statisitcally at the end of the game. You would add up all the innings from the pitchers and come up with (8) innings pitched in a 9 inning game, (7) if your the home team and ahead. That too would not make sense statistically. In the situation I described in my original post, the scorecard should show the out (which you indicated will be fixed in a future release) and the pitcher of record should be credited with the out as OhioTex pointed out.

This is almost just the opposite of the pitcher striking out a batter but not being recorded the out (drop third strike). In this senario the pitcher can strike out 4 batters in one inning (or any number for that matter if the catcher keeps dropping the ball).

[FTMSupport]

We are just trying to make sure we get it right. One of our developers had a similar scenario in a youth league game where a player had been ejected from the game, and the rule was that the player would be called out every time they were supposed to bat. This league also has a 3 inning max pitch rule (based on outs). This rule is as much about saving youth pitchers' arms as it is to make sure dominating pitchers do not rule the league. So in the spirit of those rules, would the ejected player's out be credited against the pitcher at the time the batter comes up (meaning that pitcher's 3 inning max pitched is actually reduced by one out every time that player comes to the plate)? Could the manager of the team say "every time that player comes to the plate, I am substituting Player X (maybe even a player that would not normally be a pitcher) for the current pitcher just to face that batter, then the original pitcher is coming back"? (The league allows pitchers to enter/exit as long as they do not exceed the max innings pitched.)

We are really just trying to make sure we cover all possibilities so that once this is fixed, it will not bite us again.

Thank you again to anyone that provides feedback on this issue.

[GatorBoy]

First off, you make it seem like the ejected player is coming up to bat more than once every inning. If that is the case I would sub the pitcher anyhow because you are getting stomped. - kidding, just having some fun.

Again in your senario you could have a (3) pitch inning, or (9) pitches for three innings. Is that about saving the pitchers arm? Also not every league allows the pitcher to return once pulled.

Again the senario you are discussing about your colleage is an entirely different problem. That will be based on league pitching subsitition rules, and when you make the subsition. Did you already visit this pitcher at the mound? Was it made between innings?

I am referring to an "automatic" out. In your senario with the ejected player that position in the line up is an automatic out. For instance, batter #1 faces pitcher #1, batter #2 is automatically out in the line up from a previous ejection as batter #3 steps in the box. At what point do you make your sub with pitcher #2? That pitcher would have to face batter #3 before you could sub pitcher #1 back in the game, assuming pitcher #1 took some other position on the field. I think this is being made more complicated than it needs to be.

Just to get off topic a little and inning can be charged to a pitcher in some leagues for throwing one pitch and never recording an out. How would you score that?