Alan Schwarz of the New York Times in the "Keeping Score" column examines the reaching on error (ROE) figures in baseball today.
While speedsters like Juan Pierre and Jose Reyes reach on errors a fare bit, some of the alltime leaders in this category include Bob Horner and Mickey Stanley.
Further research revealed an explanation: Other skills besides running fast play a large role in reaching on errors. Those who are good at it typically put the ball in play frequently by not walking or striking out. They are usually ground-ball hitters from the right side who put the ball more often in the hands of third basemen and shortstops, who make more infield errors because of their longer throws.
Maybe right-handers should get credit for ROEs (e.g. in their OBP) to make up for the fact that they start their ABs farther from 1B than do left-handers.
I used to count ROE for OBP for my softball team. When you're averaging 4 or 5 errors per game per team, it just seemed like a shame NOT to include it.
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