When do I charge an error?

Official Baseball Rules 9.12 (2025 edition, used for the 2026 Baseball Canada season). Charge an error against a fielder:

• whose misplay (fumble, muff or wild throw) prolongs a batter's time at bat, prolongs a runner's presence on the bases or lets a runner advance one or more bases;
• who muffs a foul fly to prolong the batter's time at bat;
• who catches a thrown ball or ground ball in time to put out the batter-runner and fails to tag first base or the batter-runner;
• who catches a thrown ball or ground ball in time to put out a runner on a force play and fails to tag the base or the runner;
• whose wild throw lets a runner reach a base safely when, in the scorer's judgment, a good throw would have put the runner out (unless the throw was made trying to prevent a stolen base).

Ordinary effort test: if a ground ball goes through a fielder's legs or a fly ball falls untouched and, in the scorer's judgment, the fielder could have handled it with ordinary effort, charge an error. A fielder does not have to touch the ball to be charged.

Not errors:

• Slow handling that is not a mechanical misplay, for example fielding a grounder cleanly but not throwing to first in time.
• Mental mistakes or misjudgments, unless a specific rule says otherwise.
• A pitcher failing to cover first base.
• A throw to the wrong base.