I rarely read the boxscores, so forgive me if this is a stupid question...

What is the difference between a green "+" and a yellow "++" defensive play?

Example:

++	C.Jones hits a shallow flyout to RCF.

+	A.Devlin hits a linedrive double into the field corner. C.Biggio scores.

My fielder shows two "+" plays in the stats (game 1 of playoffs). Why is the second play considered a "+"? Holding a triple to a double is not a big deal in my opinion and shouldn't be counted the same.

Quote: Originally Posted By schwarze on 12/18/2009Holding a triple to a double is not a big deal in my opinion and shouldn't be counted the same

Looks like you've already answered your own question.

holding a triple to a double is a big deal if there are less than 2 outs. it pretty much is like the opposite of an error. you get a + play if you save your team a base, defensively.

I did not mean to imply that holding a triple to a double had zero significance. But I wish the statistical records relating to "+" and "-" wouldn't treat saving an extra base exactly the same as turning a hit into an out.

When I look and see that Richie Ashburn had 35 + plays for the season, I want to be able to quantify this. Turning 35 hits into outs is quite a bit different than turning 20 hits into outs and turning 15 triples into 15 doubles.

I would assume that all outfielders have the same ratio of what you just stated. Like 20:15 or 4:3 (outs:reduced hit type). It would be nice to know what that ratio is, but once known I'm not sure what else you'd need to know. Maybe someone could post totals of + and ++ for a season.

PRETTY PRETTY KITTY!