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Download the pdf User's Guide for the iPhone/iPod Touch version.
How Can I Get ERA?
One of the questions I frequently get asked is whether there is a way to get the earned run average (ERA) using OnScreen Pitch Count, or when it will be possible. The answer is that there is no direct way, and ERA calculation will probably not be a feature in later updates. The main purpose of the OnScreen Pitch Count apps (iPhone and iPad) is to collect pitch result data during a game as it is happening. It's designed to make this easy and without distracting from watching all the game's progress. After the game the data can be analyzed at your leisure by traditional means such as a spreadsheet. It's easy to email the results to yourself or someone else for such analysis.
The data that are available for display within the app are all data from a single game at a time, though all the games you record are permanently stored on your iDevice. ERA is really a statistic that makes the most sense as a measure of how well a pitcher is doing through the course of several games, when big innings allowed and good innings have a chance to cancel out to get a more meaningful average. Calculating ERA does require keeping track of earned runs, though, which OnScreen Pitch Count doesn't do. This is mainly because automating the assignment of earned versus unearned runs is well nigh impossible except for the simplest cases. What would be possible, however, is giving the user the option to score a run earned or unearned each time a run scores. Then the app would keep track and display earned runs as well as total runs. The earned runs could then be used to calculate the ERA. That may happen in the future.
What About Leagues with a Five Runs Per Inning Limit?
Some leagues for younger kids call for ending an inning and switching sides before three outs have been made if a certain number of runs have been scored in the inning or a certain number of hitters have come to the plate. OnScreen Pitch Count gives you the option of ending the inning before three outs. All you have to do is tap the unlock icon in the upper left corner of the screen. This makes the Switch Sides button active if you're tracking pitchers on both teams or the New Inning button if you're tracking only those on one team. Tap one of those buttons and you're warned that there aren't three outs yet just to make sure you really want to proceed. The unlocking is also used to make the pitcher's name editable, so the warning is given to avoid accidental termination of an inning.
How Should a Fielder's Choice be Recorded?
Another question that comes up from time to time is how to score a fielder's choice with OnScreen Pitch Count. The most common case of a fielder's choice occurs when a runner already on base is put out on a force play as a result of a ball hit by the batter. In this case, there is nothing to do except what you'd do if the batter had been thrown out at first base. An out has been made on a ball put in play, and the details don't matter for the pitching statistics. A fielder's choice also occurs when a fielder makes a bad decision and unsuccessfully tries to get the lead runner, when in fact he or she could have gotten the batter out with a normal play. Until the latest updates, there was no totally satisfactory way to deal with this in OnScreen Pitch Count. However, with version 1.8 of OnScreen Pitch Count and version 1.3 of OnScreen Pitch Count for iPad there is now an option with "Other OB" for "Fielder's Choice with No Out." This option is only available when there is already a baserunner. It adds a baserunner and a strike to the pitcher's total as well as one to the "Other" category of batters that reached base against the pitcher.
What About a Dropped Third Strike?
A while ago, a user emailed (love to get email from users) to request a way be added to OnScreen Pitch Count to handle dropped third strikes, where the runner reaches base.
Here is our reply:
I'm happy to say the dropped third strike can be dealt with by the app already. Go ahead and record the strikeout. Then tap "Other OB". One of the choices is catcher drops third strike. Tap that and you add a base runner, but keep the strikeout. You can call it a wild pitch too if appropriate. The play will be tallied as Other in the list of how runners reached base.
Inning by Inning Results
The ability to look at results for a given inning as well as total results is a feature we hope to add in the future. In the meantime, one of our users pointed out a way to get those numbers now. He just pretends to bring in a "new pitcher" each inning, including the inning number as part of the pitcher's name, so he can later identify the inning recorded.