Sacrifice fly

With a runner on third and less than two outs, a deep fly ball is almost as good as a hit. The runner goes back to touch third, leaves the moment the ball is caught, and beats the throw home. The batter made an out, but drove in a run doing it, so the scorer calls it a sacrifice fly and leaves it out of the batter's at-bats.

The run has to score for it to be a sacrifice fly. A fly ball that lets a runner tag and move from second to third is not one, and counts as an at-bat. It is also still a sacrifice fly when the outfielder drops the ball for an error, if the scorer judges the runner would have scored on the catch.

A sacrifice fly does not lower batting average, but it does lower on-base percentage: OBP divides by at-bats plus walks, hit by pitch and sacrifice flies. A sacrifice bunt counts in neither. That one difference is why the two are scored separately, SF and SAC.

On a score sheet, write SF and the fielder who caught it, so a fly to right field is SF9, and put the RBI dot in the box. For the runner, mark the advance home with the batter's number.

Coaching the play is mostly about the runner on third: back to the bag on every fly ball with less than two outs, eyes on the fielder, and go on the catch, not on the coach's voice. A third base coach can call "tag" before the pitch so it is never a decision made late.

Examples

• Runner on third, one out, a fly ball to center caught near the warning track, runner scores: SF8, 1 RBI.
• Runner on second, one out, a fly to right, the runner tags to third: not a sacrifice fly, and the batter is charged an at-bat.
• Runner on third, two outs, a deep fly ball caught: the third out, no run, no sacrifice fly.

Put it on a card: Score sheets.

Frequently Asked Questions

More in the glossary

• Sacrifice bunt
• RBI (run batted in)
• Fielder's choice
• All glossary pages