Since 1901, there’s been an average of nearly 3,000 total errors per season. In 2017, however, there has only been 274 so far.
By my back-of-the-napkin calculations (based on the average number of innings played and errors per season dating back to 1901), Major League fielders are actually on pace to set a new low in total number of errors made.*
But if it comes down to the wire, and 2017 misses the mark by just one error (it definitely won’t), this extremely unfortunate error call could be remembered as the cause.
Watch as Seattle’s right fielder, Mitch Haniger, makes a PERFECT throw into second base … that ultimately winds up costing the Mariner’s a run and an extra base, while notching an error for himself in the process:
If you could assign a “degree of mistake,” to measure how badly a fielder actually messed up, this would be among the very lowest marks of all time.
His throw came into second base so on the money that it actually hit the bag. If the shortstop, Taylor Motter, was straddling the bag more traditionally, he might’ve been in a better position to receive that throw. Instead, the ball kicked away, a run scored, and the runner at first advanced.
So much for the record.
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* There’s a crazy amount of noise in these calculations – including most notably a different number of games/season and number of teams in the league – so take that with a huge grain of salt. It’s just for some perspective.