Base Hit?

[Guest Nick]

No outs R1 on 2b.  BR lays down what is to be a sac bunt. F1 fields bunt but elects to throw to F5 covering.  R1 safe at 3b. BR running hard and rounds 1b as play at 3b  is being made.  F5 asleep at the switch and BR takes 2b.  Has BR's Fielder's Choice just become a Base Hit by taking 2b on the same play?

[CJK]

Probably not.  Likely scoring decision:  BR safe at first (FC) advancing to second on the throw.

[Rich Ives]

1 hour ago, Guest Nick said:

No outs R1 on 2b.  BR lays down what is to be a sac bunt. F1 fields bunt but elects to throw to F5 covering.  R1 safe at 3b. BR running hard and rounds 1b as play at 3b  is being made.  F5 asleep at the switch and BR takes 2b.  Has BR's Fielder's Choice just become a Base Hit by taking 2b on the same play?

No.

And being asleep at the switch isn't an error either.

FC all the way

 

[Senor Azul]

To our guest Nick, it is not a base hit as you describe the scenario and it is not a fielder’s choice—the batter receives credit for a sacrifice by rule:

9.08 Sacrifices

The official scorer shall:

(b) Score a sacrifice bunt when, before two are out, the fielders handle a bunted ball without error in an unsuccessful attempt to put out a preceding runner advancing one base, unless, an attempt to turn a bunt into a putout of a preceding runner fails, and in the judgment of the official scorer ordinary effort would not have put out the batter at first base, in which case the batter shall be credited with a one-base hit and not a sacrifice;

And here’s why it should be scored that way as Andres Wirkmaa explains in his book, Baseball Scorekeeping:

“Scoring a fielder’s choice will adversely affect the batter’s batting statistics because reaching base on a fielder’s choice is tantamount to having a plate appearance end with the batter being put out. Therefore, charging a batter who fulfilled all the basic criteria for being awarded a sacrifice bunt with having reached base by virtue of a fielder’s choice, just because the defensive team chose to try to put out a runner on base (unsuccessfully and without the commission of an error) would be grossly unfair to the batter…Therefore, the mere fact that a play is not made on a batter does not automatically disqualify the batter from being credited with a sacrifice bunt.”

[Guest Nick]

Thank you to all who responded and gracias to Senor Azul. I understand about giving BR a SAC on the play. I am having trouble with explaining how he acquired 2b. I realize this is a judgement call but does anyone believe I would be justified in scoring a Hit under the theory that a batter who reaches first base safely but advances on the same play as the result of fielder's choice is credited with a hit for the number of bases he would have reached safely with no other runners on base? Lastly I realize this NOT an umpire question but a scorer's question but this is the best site I've found for all baseball related questions. 

[CJK]

He took second "on the throw."  The rule book language that you're quoting addresses a player who singles with a runner on second, and then advances to second when the throw from the outfield goes to the plate in an attempt to prevent a run.  He ends up at second, but he's credited with a "single, advancing on the throw."

If you're having trouble with something, I think it should be explaining why he reached first base safely.  It still seems to me that the play that allowed him to reach was an FC, even though I understand and agree that the batter should receive credit for a sacrifice.

[noumpere]

15 hours ago, Guest Nick said:

but does anyone believe I would be justified in scoring a Hit under the theory

No.