What Does FC Mean in Baseball? Definition and Examples
FC in baseball stands for fielder's choice — when a batter reaches base only because the defense chose to put out a different runner instead of him. It is not a hit, does not count toward on-base percentage, but does count as an at-bat.
What Does FC Mean in Baseball?
FC stands for fielder's choice. It is the play where a batter reaches base safely, but only because the fielder chose to retire a *different* runner — usually the lead runner already on base — instead of throwing to first for the out on the batter. The batter put the ball in play, the defense had a chance to get him out, and the defense decided someone else was the better out. On a box score the result is recorded as "FC." Critically, a fielder's choice is not a hit, it does not count as time on base for on-base percentage, but it does count as an at-bat — which means it lowers both the batter's batting average and his on-base percentage.
How a Fielder's Choice is Scored
The official scorer records a fielder's choice when, in the scorer's judgment, the fielder who handled the batted ball could have retired the batter at first but instead chose to make a play on another baserunner. A few rules govern how it shows up:
- The out is charged to the retired runner, not the batter. The notation describes the actual play — for example, a ground ball to the shortstop who throws to second to force the lead runner reads "6-4."
- It is not an error. The defense made a clean, legal play; it simply elected a different out. An error is a misplay, and a fielder's choice is the opposite — a deliberate, successful choice.
- It counts as an at-bat. Because the batter neither got a hit nor reached on an error, walk, or hit-by-pitch, the plate appearance is scored as an official at-bat with no hit, dragging the AVG denominator up with no numerator credit.
- It does not count as a time on base for OBP. Even though the batter is physically standing on first base, reaching on a fielder's choice is treated the same as making an out for on-base purposes.
The short version: the batter is safe on the field but "out" in the stat line.
Worked Example
Runner on first, nobody out. The batter hits a ground ball to the shortstop. Instead of flipping to first to retire the batter, the shortstop throws to the second baseman covering the bag to force the lead runner — scored 6-4. The batter is now standing on first base, the lead runner is out, and the official scorer records the batter's plate appearance as a fielder's choice: 0-for-1, an at-bat with no hit and no time on base. If the same batter had instead beaten out an infield single, it would have been a hit; the only difference is which runner the defense chose to retire. That distinction — entirely the defense's decision — is why the batter's stat line takes the hit even though he reached base.
Why It Matters
Fielder's choice is one of the most common ways a player's surface stats understate what actually happened at the plate. A hitter who consistently puts the ball in play on the ground with runners on can rack up fielder's-choice at-bats that quietly suppress his average and OBP without ever swinging at a bad pitch. It is also a reminder that batting average and OBP measure outcomes the batter only partly controls — the defense's choice of which out to take is out of his hands. For RBI purposes, a run that scores on a fielder's choice generally still credits the batter (unless the scorer rules the run scored only because of the defense's choice or an error), which is one of the few places the play helps the hitter's line.
In Legends Deck
Legends Deck's simulation engine resolves a fielder's choice exactly as MLB scores it: the batter reaches base but the plate appearance is logged as a hitless at-bat, so it pulls down the card's in-sim batting average and on-base percentage just like the real stat. This is why contact-and-ground-ball card profiles — high contact, low launch angle — carry a hidden tax in the engine: they reach base often on balls in play but absorb fielder's-choice outs that don't show up as power production. Browse every hitter's live contact-quality inputs on the leaderboards hub or the 2026 MLB hard-hit rate leaderboard.