Little League Baseball fans

National Guard

O.K. Baseball aficionados out there; please explain to me how to figure out a pitcher's ERA. Especially when it is little league and most games only go for six innings (Time limits, etc.) and some games only four innings! My son's team played their first game last night and I am the score keeper. So, I want to know how to figure out the ERA.
Please Help.

Thanks,
Susan

LarryC

Calculating Earned Run Average is pretty straight forward once you have the correct values. Getting the "correct values" can be tricky. I'll explain.

First of all, ERA is equal to the number of earned runs times the number of innings in a regulation game all divided by the number of innings actually pitched.

e.g. Pitcher pitches 2/3 of an inning and gives up 3 runs. In your case (six inning game), the ERA = 3 times 6 all divided by 2/3 = 27.00.

The 2/3 means the pitcher somehow managed to get 2 of the 3 outs available in an inning.

As you can see, the ERA is a predictor of how many runs a given pitcher is likely to give up if he/she were to pitch the entire game.

Your fun will begin when you try to determine what is an earned run and what is an unearned run.

Here's an example: A batter reaches base because of an error. The next batter hits a home run. The pitcher gave up one earned run. The batter that reached base on an error did not earn his way onto base. He had it given to him by one of your inept infielders.

Another example: A pitcher enters the game with the bases loaded and serves up a home run. He is charged with one earned run and the other pitcher, who is probably throwing a tantrum in the dugout about now, is charged with the other three.

Hope this helps.

National Guard

Yes, very helpful. I did allways wonder why you would even want to know an ERA. It makes sense now to want to predict how many runs might be given up in a game by one of your pitchers. You are also the first one to explain about 2/3 of an inning and that there is a difference between the earned and unearned. It turns out I was figuring it out mostly right, but it seems unfair (or last night it did) for a pitcher to end up with a higher ERA than actual runs given up during the game. Now I understand why - predicting how many he would give up if he were to pitch an ENTIRE game.

Thanks again.

Don D

But isn't it a bit much to force the concept of ERA on Little Leaguers? They don't even know about steroids yet, for goodness sakes.

National Guard

Yes, I just wanted to know. I'm not really going to tell the kids (or Pitchers) on the team what their ERA is. But I do know my son will want to know and I don't think there will be any harm in telling him. He pitches on Saturday. At their age and level of play - the league doesn't track that either.

National Guard

What about if the batter is walked? Does that count as an earned run against the Pitcher?

Leslie

Yes.

Don D

Not necessarily, Leslie. He must first score.

LarryC

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-21-04 AT 01:49PM (CST)[/font][br][br]That brings up an intriguing baseball question: There are 7 ways a player can get on base without getting a base hit. You mentioned walk. What are the other six?

POPEYE

Those would be:

Walk
Error
Fielder's choice
Hit by Pitch
3rd strike / passed ball wild pitch - beat throw
Catcher's interference
Inserted as pinch runner

I actually won tickets from a local sports
talk show to an Atlanta Braves game a few
years ago with this answer.

LarryC

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 04-22-04 AT 05:57AM (CST)[/font][br][br]Way to go, Popeye! By the way, How close are you to Johnson City? I used to go there quite a bit when I was with a previous company. I love Tennessee and the purple mountains in the spring time.

Also, what are the names of your nephews again? Your name piqued my interest in an old trivia question. Anybody?......Anybody?

SMace

I thought our mountains were blue. I am color blind, though, x:D

POPEYE

Madison is a suburb of Nashville so I'm about 5 hours west of Johnson City.

Popeye's nephews were:

Peepeye
Poopeye
Pipeye
Pupeye

LarryC

Thank you. Somehow I just knew you'd know.

lnelson

What about a BOCH? (spelling ?)

LarryC

Do you mean balk? That will advance the base runners, but not the batter.

National Guard

Really? I too allways thought a batter got first base if the pitcher balked.

lnelson

Yes, that is what I meant. Sorry for spelling.
thought it was boch not balk.