What is an Error in Baseball? Definition and Examples

What an Error Means

An error is the official scorer's verdict that a defender botched a play he should have made. Specifically, an error is charged when a fielder misplays a ball — boots a grounder, drops a catchable fly, throws wildly — and that misplay either lets a batter reach base or allows a runner to take an extra base, when "ordinary effort" would have resulted in an out or kept runners where they were. The key phrase is *ordinary effort*: spectacular, diving attempts that don't quite work are not errors, because no out was reasonably available.

How Errors Are Scored

Errors are not measured by a sensor or formula — they are a judgment call made by the official scorer, one of the few subjective stats still embedded in the box score. The scorer decides three things on each questionable play: (1) was an out available with routine effort, (2) did a misplay prevent it, and (3) which fielder is responsible. There is no partial credit; a play is either an error or it isn't.

Errors flow into two other statistics:

• Fielding percentage = (Putouts + Assists) ÷ (Putouts + Assists + Errors). More errors directly drag this rate down.
• Earned vs. unearned runs. Runs that score only because of an error are "unearned" and excluded from a pitcher's ERA, which is why errors can rescue a pitcher's ratio after a defensive meltdown.

Worked Example

Imagine a shortstop with 250 putouts, 400 assists, and 15 errors over a season. His fielding percentage is (250 + 400) ÷ (250 + 400 + 15) = 650 ÷ 665 = .977. By contrast, a Gold Glove–caliber shortstop committing only 7 errors on similar chances would post a .990 mark. That 13-point gap is the kind of separation scouts and front offices weigh — though modern departments lean far harder on Outs Above Average and Defensive Runs Saved.

For the batter, reaching on an error is recorded as a hitless at-bat. So a grounder muffed by the third baseman counts as an 0-for-1 against the hitter's batting average, not a hit.

Why Errors Matter

Errors are the traditional currency of defensive evaluation and still anchor the box score, Gold Glove voting context, and casual fan judgment. For pitchers, the earned/unearned distinction protects ERA from sloppy defense behind them. In fantasy and DFS, errors rarely score directly but matter indirectly through the runs and outs they swing.

Limitations and Common Misconceptions

The error's fatal weakness is what it ignores: a fielder is only charged for misplaying balls he *reached*. A slow defender who never gets to a ball is charged nothing, while a rangy fielder who gets a glove on it and bobbles it eats an error. That perverse incentive is precisely why advanced metrics like UZR and OAA, which credit range and difficulty, have displaced fielding percentage in serious analysis. Another misconception: reaching on an error does not help a hitter's average — it's an out on the stat sheet for him.

In Legends Deck

Legends Deck models defense with range-based ratings rather than raw error totals, so a rangy fielder who makes hard plays outranks a low-error defender with limited reach. During simulation, an error outcome converts what should have been an out into a baserunner and can plate unearned runs — keeping your pitcher's ERA clean while still costing you the inning.