Understanding Substitutions in
It's A Hit!


This portion of the User Manual discusses some aspects of substitutions in It's A Hit!

Some General Guidelines For Entering Substitutions

The fastest and easiest way to make substitutions while scoring is to use the Substitute Pitcher or Substitute Hitter menu items in the AtBat View.  Note that you can use Substitute Hitter to also enter pinch runners if you'd like.

Whenever you make a set of substitutions you need to make sure that you end up with a complete set of defensive positions being filled once your substitutions are completed.  A common situation is to have a player pinch hit for another but for the pinch hitter to play a different defensive position than the player that they hit for.  To keep a complete set of defensive positions, you'll need to move another defensive player to a new position by substituting them for themselves.  Here's an example.

Let's say that Gregg Abbott starts the game in left field and Chris Singleton starts in center.  In the top of the 8th inning, Carlos Lee pinch hits for Abbott but plays center field in the bottom of the 8th and 9th innings.  So you enter Carlos Lee as a pinch hitter for Abbott and put him in center.  Singleton moves from center to left field in the bottom of the eight when Lee comes into center so you need to substitute Singleton for himself with the new position of left field now instead of center.

The Effect of Designated Hitters

Because of the existence of designated hitters the substitutions for any given lineup position can get somewhat complicated.  Let's use a simple example and expand on it.

When a team uses a designated hitter they typically bat for the pitcher.  So let's say that Frank Thomas is the designated hitter for John Speier, the pitcher.  The way you enter this in It's A Hit! is to enter Speier as the pitcher then make a substitution for Speier with Thomas the designated hitter.  That data for Speier shows that he was substituted for by Thomas with 0 outs in the 1st inning.

Let's represent this information with a small table that has the most recent substitution at the top.

Player          Pos      When            Type
Frank Thomas    dh       current         n/a
John Speier     1        0 out in 1st    Des. Hitter

Note that both players are currently playing in the game.

Now let's suppose that with one out in the 5th inning Jose Gomez comes in as a relief pitcher John Speier.  Now are table has three entries:

Player          Pos      When            Type
Frank Thomas    dh       current         n/a
Jose Gomez      1        1 out in 5th    Rel. Pitcher
John Speier     1        0 out in 1st    Des. Hitter

Note that in the case of Speier that "0 out in the 1st" means that the dh substituted as a hitter for him at the beginning of the game while in the case of Gomez "1 out in the 5th" means that he substituted Gomez substituted for Speier with 1 out in the 5th.  Contrast this with a situation where pitchers bat for themselves:

Player          Pos      When            Type
2nd Reliever    1        current         n/a
1st Reliever    1        0 out in 8th    Rel. Pitcher
Starter         1        1 out in 5th    Rel. Pitcher

In this case the when field designates when the player was replaced.  The starter was relieved with 1 out in the the 5th and the 2nd Reliever replaced the 1st reliever with no outs in the 8th inning.

Let's take the example with a designated hitter one step further by replacing Frank Thomas with Chris Singleton with 2 outs in the 6th inning.  The table now looks like:

Player          Pos      When            Type
Chris Singleton dh       current         n/a
Frank Thomas    dh       2 out in 6th    Des. Hitter
Jose Gomez      1        1 out in 5th    Rel. Pitcher
John Speier     1        0 out in 1st    Des. Hitter

So we a pattern start to emerge, the offensive players 'when' and 'type' fields describe when they were substituted for by another player and the defensive players describe when they substituted for another player.  (Except the starting defensive player).  Let's add one more relief pitcher to complete the table.  Let's say James Baldwin came in as a relief pitcher with no outs in the 8th.

Player          Pos      When            Type
Chris Singleton dh       current         n/a
Frank Thomas    dh       2 out in 6th    Des. Hitter
James Baldwin   1        0 out in 8th    Rel. Pitcher
Jose Gomez      1        1 out in 5th    Rel. Pitcher
John Speier     1        0 out in 1st    Des. Hitter
 

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