What is a Fielder's Choice?

A fielder's choice in baseball is just that. It is the choice of a fielder who, after fielding a ball, chooses to try to throw out a player other than the batter. Whether the fielder is successful or not at the attempt does not matter; the fielder could have thrown out the batter but chose to try to get an out elsewhere. The official scorers will rule this a fielder's choice.

  1. Types

    • There is a variety of ways a play can be ruled a fielder's choice by an official scorer. One scenario--most common--is that there are runners on the bases and rather than throw the batter out at first base, the infielder forces a runner out with a throw to a base other than first. If a fielder tries to throw out a runner at another base, but the attempt fails, it is still ruled a fielder's choice if the scorer feels the fielder could have thrown the batter out at first. Errors can be made during a fielder's choice. One example would be with a runner on second, a shortstop dives and stops the ball. The shortstop recovers and throws to third base wildly, allowing the runner from second to make it there safely. The shortstop is given an error but the batter reached by a fielder's choice.

    Effects

    • Fielder's choices count against the batter as an at-bat without a base hit, causing batting averages to decline. On an unsuccessful double play attempt, where the batter reaches first base before the relay throw, the batter is never credited with a base hit.

    Significance

    • The batter can get a run batted in even though they reach base by a fielder's choice. With a runner on first and third and less than two outs a hitter can hit a ground ball to second base. The second baseman tosses the ball to the shortstop covering second who then tries to complete the double play. The throw to first is not in time and the runner from third comes in to score. The batter is safe at first and is given an RBI on a fielder's choice. If there were no outs and the double play was completed, the batter is not given an RBI when the run scores.

    Considerations

    • Fielder's choices are not limited to infield plays. Consider a batter who singles to right field with a runner on second. The throw home from the right fielder is late and the runner from second base scores. The hitter advances to second base upon realizing that the throw won't be cut-off and a play won't be made on him. They aren't given a double, but rather a single with their advancement to second on the fielder's choice to throw to the plate rather than keep them at first.

    Expert Insight

    • Hometown official scorers have been known to stretch the fielder's choice rule. When a ball is hit to an infielder who has to make a good play to stop it, they will sometimes throw to another base rather than first in an attempt to get an out. If the out is not recorded, many official scores will give the home team batter a base hit, even though the infielder could have probably thrown him out if he had chosen to.