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How do official scorers distinguish a wild pitch from a passed ball?
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Sabermetrics
A scoreboard provides some â but not necessarily the most useful â data on player and team performances in baseball.
In baseball, the distinction between a wild pitch and a passed ball is determined by the official scorer based on the level of effort required by the catcher to handle the ball.1
- Wild Pitch: This is a pitch that is so far off target that the catcher has no reasonable chance to catch or control it with ordinary effort, allowing a base runner to advance.21
- Passed Ball: This is a pitch that should have been handled by the catcher with ordinary effort but was instead mishandled, allowing a base runner to advance.1
Ultimately, the official scorer must use their judgment to decide if the pitch was inherently uncatchable due to its location or if the catcher simply failed to execute a play that was within their reach.1