On July 6 I attended a game between the Angels and the A’s. The game was tied at five in the bottom of the ninth. The A’s had a man on third with one out. Scioscia brought Erstad in from center to play first base, and moved Spiezio from first to an infield position between third and short.
The inning ended without Spiezio making a play. My question is, if Spiezio had made a play, how would I have scored it? For example, if he had fielded a grounder and thrown the runner out at home, would it have been 5 1/2 - 2? If he made an assist to Erstad at first base, would it have been 5 1/2 - 3 (it certainly wouldn’t be 3 - 3 or 3 - 8)?
Well, assuming spezio was to the right of the LF, and the the left of the RF, I’d score it 8-3. There are no real defined “positions” in baseball. A team could put all 7 fielders in a clump in right field. But theoreticals aside, in a real-world situation, assuming the 3b was playing at third, the ss was at least close to his normal position, I’d call spezio the CF. Altho with only two outfielders, I guess it’s possible that the LF was playing to the right of spezio, in which case I’d classify him as the LF, hence 7-3.
Darn good question. The official rulebook seems to be mum on this- there really aren’t official designations for the positions in the book. My opinion:
1- Spezio would have to give up the first baseman’s mitt as he is no longer at first, Erstad would be allowed to wear the 1b mitt
2- For this play, I would assume Spezio and Erstad had switched positions, making Spezio the center fielder.
3- I would score the play 8-3, however the scorer would have to make sure that the proper individuals got the putout and assist.
There’s no specific way to score this. I would have called Spezio “8” and then written a note on the scoresheet, “N1 -Spezio playing deep center infield, special positioning.” I make notes when the infield puts on a Williams Shift, too, for players like Carlos Delgado or Jim Thome.
You definitely can’t call Spezio 3, because someone else was playing first, so the closest thing to the truth is 8.
Spezio would be the centerfielder; he was just positioned elsewhere. Scorers don’t go by where a player is actually located on the diamond; they go by his stated position.
Since Erstad was moved from CF to 1B and Spezio was moved from 1B to his new position, he becomes a CF. You must have all nine positions accounted for.
I don’t know. If a ball is hit to the right of the first baseman and it pulls him far enough out of position that the pitcher comes in to cover the base and makes the put out you score it 3-1 , not 3½-3. I’m not sure it would be different just because the manager has moved the players around for the purpose of a specific situation. Unless the manager made an official change in the designation of the players, reported to the head umpire and it was announced on the PA system, Erstad is still CF and Spezio 1B.
Perusing the scoring rules, we find the following:
Here, no exchange has taken place. Hence, no realignment is recorded, and we have such delightful possibilities as a “3-8” putout at first base.
Now, I wouldn’t necessarily go to the wall over this interpretation. One could argue, because of the mitt issue, that an exchange has taken place, with Spiezio becoming the CF and then assuming the “fifth outfielder temporarily playing in the infield” position. However, I note in the MLB statistics that Erstad has not been credited with any appearances at 1B this year, so apparently the official scorer regarded this as “no exchange”.
I think that there would have to be. The rules prohibit anyone but a first baseman from using a first baseman’s mitt. For playing rule purposes (as opposed to scoring rules), I think the umpires would rule that the guy playing closest to first base was the first baseman. And even if it wasn’t required, just as a practical matter you would want Erstad to be the guy with the big mitt.
Just last night the Angels brought Chone Figgins in as a fifth infielder, and he chose to switch gloves even though in his situation it wasn’t required.
And of course in my previous post I meant “outfielder temporarily serving as a fifth infielder”, not the garbled verbiage I produced.
I can’t believe they have that kind of rule on the books. (I’m not doubting you - I’m saying it’s a dumb rule.) After all, who cares what kind of glove the guy’s wearing?
Limiting only one player to a first baseman’s glove and one player to a catcher’s mitt just makes it easier to regulate gloves.
Players at those positions don’t have to wear those gloves, although I think any catcher going behind the plate with a regular mitt risks a broken hand.
The Angels use a five-man infield a few times a year and the only time anyone ever is credited with a position change is if the guy comes in to the dugout and puts on a first baseman glove.
A couple years ago, Erstad was brought in to play between second and third and he made a play on a grounder and it went in to the books as an 8-3. And Erstad is left-handed so the play looked weird.
But why would you want to regulate gloves? In theory, they should be able to wear whatever feels comfortable to them. Understandably, it would be folly to wear anything but a catcher’s mitt behind the plate.
You want to regulate gloves so first baseman don’t wear gloves that have giant nets on them to catch throws from all over the place.
Nor do you want outfielders to wear gloves that are 20 inches long.
But if you let everyone wear a first baseman’s glove, you could conceivably have the infielders changing gloves for every situation depending upon which runners are on base.
Example, runners on first and second and a bunt play is expected. The defense really wants to get the lead runner, so to make it easier, the third baseman runs in and gets a first baseman’s glove so he can stretch out and scoop a throw better.
Jose Offerman, when he played first base, did not always wear a first baseman’s glove.
I think jklann has the answer to this specific situation: since the change in positions was only for one batter, it isn’t treated as a new position. That leaves open the question, though, of how plays would be scored if the fielders had changed positions for longer than one plate appearance.
Some of the answers here assume that Spiezio and Erstad switched positions. They didn’t - Erstad moved from center to first, and Spiezio moved from first to an infield position between third and short. The Angels had five infielders and two outfielders.
As for who gets to wear a first baseman’s mitt: the rules allow all fielders to wear gloves, but only catchers and first basemen to wear mitts. A glove has fingers and a mitt doesn’t. Catchers and first basemen make so many more catches of hard-thrown balls that their fingers need more protection.
There are other differences between mitts and gloves. The rules specify how big a glove can be, and how big the webbing can be. A first baseman’s mitt can be longer, and can also have larger webbing. A catcher’s mitt can be much larger than a fielder’s glove. Again, the reason is that first basemen and catchers have to make many more catches than other fielders do.
