Baseball by the Rules - Infield Ground Ball Out

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Infield Sacrifice

When there are runners on base, and the batter hits a ground ball to an infielder, that infielder will have a lot of options available to them. Their decision will ultimately help determine how the play is scored. Ultimately, no matter how many runners are on base, and where those runners are, there will always be a force out available to the fielder: first base, which the batter/runner is advancing towards. Should the fielder attempt to get that out, and should they succeed, the batter/runner will be out; if any other runners advance at least one base¹, you will sometimes hear the play referred to as a “sacrifice,” but this is not an official designation unless the batter was bunting. This is referred to specifically as a sacrifice bunt, and for statistical purposes, it means that the batter does not get credited with an at-bat, though they do get a plate appearance.

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After a sacrifice, there’s technically a chance that an enterprising baserunner could get greedy and attempt to take another base, forcing the defense to respond, but this is such a rare outcome, we’re going to pretend that it never happens; instead, the inning continues either with runners on, or if the "sacrifice" scored the only runner from third, with bases empty.

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