Scenario: A batter enters the game with a 30-game hitting streak. The batter has three plate appearances in the game you are scoring.
One of the performances below will cause the batter’s hitting streak to come to an end. Which one?
A – Base on balls, catcher interference, base on balls.
BÂ – Hit by pitch, intentional base on balls, base on balls.
CÂ – Intentional base on balls, sacrifice bunt, base on balls.
D – Sacrifice fly, base on balls, base on balls.
Highlight the text below to reveal the answer:
Answer: D – Sacrifice fly, base on balls, base on balls.
Rule 10.23(b) states:
… A consecutive-game hitting streak shall not be terminated if all of a batter’s plate appearances (one or more) in a game result in a base on balls, hit batsman, defensive interference or obstruction or a sacrifice bunt. The streak shall terminate if the player has a sacrifice fly and no hit …
4 comments
A sacrifice bunt does not end a batter’s hitting streak (series of games in which the batter has scored a hit in each game), but a sacrifice fly does end it. The reason for this must be that the sacrifice bunt is intentional, while the sacrifice fly is unlikely to be intentional.
Charles Earle
Precisely. More often than not there is logic to be found in rules that might seem on face value to have a certain arbitrary nature to them.
Assuming the player had a game with either (A), (B) or (C), in his next game got a hit, and in the following game ended the streak, would he have a 31- or 32-game hitting streak?
Hi Adam,
Great question.
The rule book says “A player’s individual consecutive-game hitting streak shall be determined by the consecutive games in which such player appears”, which implies that it should count (i.e. it does not say consecutive games in which the player gets a hit). But then what about a player who comes in as a defensive substitution and never gets to the plate? This doesn’t seem like it should count – otherwise, Joe D could be toppled by a player who never comes to the plate and just fills in in defence.
Personally, I think the game shouldn’t count to the streak, as it is not one in which the player got a hit.
What do you reckon?
Joe