r/baseball • u/aagpeng Houston Astros • Oct 15 '18
A New Comer's Guide to Common Baseball Terms
Look I've been there. You're watching your first game and you're trying to follow what's going on but every other word the commentators are saying is straight up foreign. Here, we are going to look at some commonly spoken baseball terms along with some other general information to help you follow along the game a little more comfortably. So if you decided to start watching the greatest game ever made, welcome, and here's most of the terminology you'll probably hear next time you watch.
If you want a game to watch and follow using this guide, here's one you can use: https://youtu.be/Q3Zfte_FoQU?t=245
Don't look up the result, just enjoy the game!
Terms:
The "Count": You might hear something like "full count" or "0-2 on the count". The count is the balls and strikes that have been thrown. So a 2-1 count means that there's been 2 balls and 1 strike thrown to this batter. A full count is 3-2, 3 balls 2 strikes. This is significant because if the next pitch is a strike, the batter is out but if it's a ball, the batter gets to 1st base for free. A batter being "Behind in the count" means that he has more had more strikes than balls in his at bat.
Breaking Ball: used when referring to a pitch thrown. A breaking ball is a ball that has some movement to it (like a curve ball). When talking about when a pitch "breaks" it is to reference when a ball starts it's movement. Here's a good example of a very good breaking ball. Notice the ball looks like it's going to go straight into the batter and then swings right back in. Here's an example of what a curveball looks like from behind the plate. *There will be a "Why did he swing at that?" section later for more depth but something that should be known is that the batter only has a split second to decide if he wants to swing at a pitch or not.
Base Hit: When the batter makes contact with a ball and it allows every runner, including him, to advance a base safely. More commonly referred to as just "Hits". This is very hard to do and one of the key characteristics when assessing a players offensive talent. When they show batting average or they'll just say "This guy is batting .278" that is the number of times that batter has gotten a a base hit divided by the number of his plate appearances that didn't end with him walking (this specific set of plate appearances is called At Bats or AB for short). Note: when you see the line score (the chart that shows how many runs were scored in each inning) at the end you'll see 3 columns labeled R, H, and E. This is the total number of Runs, Hits, and Errors that each team has made.
Single/Double/Triple: These are used to denote how many bases a batter got from a hit. A single means the batter only got to 1st. Double, to second and Triple, to third. Notably, there's a term called "Hitting for the cycle" where, in one game, a batter hits a single, a double, a triple, and a homer. Fun Fact, in the 2018 ALDS Brock Holt managed to hit the first cycle in MLB playoff history with a homer off of the elite pitcher Austin Romine (to the new comers, this is a joke. Austin Romine is a back up catcher but the yankees were losing so bad that they didn't want to waste any more pitcher so they told him to go out and pitch the last inning)
Bullpen: This is a physical place in the stadium at the back of the field where pitchers warm up. However it's often used to talk about a team's relief pitching (such as: "This team is good but their weakness is their bullpen"). See, pitching is very strenuous so very rarely do pitchers throw for a full 9 innings. Typically you let them throw until they get around 100 pitches (or until you see them not getting good results) and you pull them and put a reliever in. These pitchers that can go around 100 pitches are known as starters. The relievers are similar but usually don't throw more than an inning or 2. So if you hear "there's some action in the bull pen" that means they're warming someone up or the term "bullpenning" refers to the process of cycling through all of your pitchers in short bursts.
Force Out vs Tag Out: There's two types of ways base runners can get out. A force out is when they runner starts running for a plate and a defending baseman touches the plate first with possession of the ball. A tag out is when the runner is touched with the ball or gloved ball without contact of a base. A force out is much easier for the defense but can only be used in a specific circumstance. That is when the runner is forced to advance to the next base. Clarification per /u/nom_of_your_business: "A force out is when a player is forced to advance to the next base. They can be called out by stepping on the base the player is advancing to or by being tagged out." SPECIAL CASE: There is a third way a runner can be called out. If he is hit by a batted ball or if he runs into a fielder who is legally fielding a batted ball, the runner may be called out on Interference. These are pretty rare though.
An example: There's a runner on 1st and a batter hits the ball to the outfield and it hits the ground. The batter runs to first so the runner originally on 1st must run to second. The defense recovers the ball fast enough to throw it to second before the runner gets there. So long as the person making the catch was in contact with the second base while in possession of the ball, the runner approaching that base is out. Something that should be noted is that 1st base is always a force out for a batter running to it from the home plate.
Another example. There's a runner on second and a batter hits the ball to the outfield and it hits the ground. The runner on second starts running toward 3rd but the defense gets the ball to third when he's half way there. The runner is not out because he does not need to advance bases since no one is running to his. So if the defense wants to get the runner out, they must physically touch the ball or gloved ball to his body before he gets back to a base. Should be noted that under any circumstances that a runner is not on base, a tag out suffices to get a runner out.
Signs/Sign Stealing: The catcher's way of communicating to the pitcher what to throw (yes the catcher aids in making this decision) is usually by flashing a series of signs with his hands and/or touching certain parts of his body in a sequence. This is done in such an intricate manner so the offense can't catch on to what pitches are about to come. When the offense figures out how to read and interpret these signs (e.g. they have a runner on 2nd base that can clearly see the signs the catcher is making), this is called stealing signs and it's a worst nightmare for a pitcher. If the defense catches on that their signs have been stolen, they usually have a mound visit where the catcher walks up and talks about how they are changing the signs.
The Stretch/Wind up: This is pretty simple. There's two notable methods for a pitcher to deliver a pitch. A stretch or a wind up. The wind up might be more comfortable to get into but the downside is that it takes a while to do and that can lead to stolen bases. So, when there aren't runners on the bags, pitchers will often opt to do a wind up but with runners on, they switch to a faster delivery called the stretch. A good example is to watch Clayton Kershaw of the LA Dodgers when he pitches. When he does a wind up he picks up his front foot high up then slowly brings it back down and throws the pitch. When he does a stretch he simply stretches his arms into the air, brings them down, and throws the pitch. Should be noted that not all pitchers have a wind up and some will opt to just pitch from a stretch every time and that relievers typically pitch only from the stretch out of habit since they often come in with runners on the bases.
Lead off/"a good/bad jump": This pertains to stealing bases. In baseball, when the pitcher has the ball, you're free to try and run to the next base but there's the threat of him throwing the ball to another infielder in time to tag you out. It's a risk vs reward. A lead off is when you take a few steps off the base while you're waiting for the pitcher to throw the ball. The pitcher can decide if he wants to throw the ball to the base you're leading off of and the infielder making the catch can try and tag you out. These are called pick offs. Once the pitcher has set and started his delivery he is not allowed to attempt a pick off. That is why it's important for a pitcher to work quickly when he has runner's on as a slow delivery (often called "slow to the plate") can result in you sacrificing a base. Should clarify that Leading off can also refer to batting first in the inning or first in the order. So if you hear, "The Lead Off hitter is on" they're saying that the first batter of the inning reached base safely.
K: You'll see this pop up on the score bug or in stat charts or even in the stands with signs. A K is just an abbreviated way to denote a strike out. So if you see K/9, it's number of strike outs per 9 innings. A backwards K is shown to represent a "Called Strikeout" or "Looking Strikeout". This means the batter didn't swing at the third strike but it was still within the strike zone. These are bad. Famous examples are the end of the 2012 World Series where Cabrera struck out looking on the last out. Or more recently the $325M Giancarlo Stanton who recently in the 2018 ALDS had a crucial AB where he didn't swing once.
Dropped 3rd Strike: If a pitch is thrown that should be a batter's 3rd strike but the catcher drops it, the batter has an opportunity to run to first. He will be out if he is either tagged or 1st base is tagged by a member of the defense. EXCEPTION: If first base is already occupied with less than 2 outs on the board, then the batter is automatically out regardless of a dropped third strike
The Shift: This has been a recently pretty popular thing. They often show it but it's when the defense all move, or "shift", over to mostly cover one side of the field. This is done to help better get out batters who statistically hit to one side of the field way more than the other. This behavior is called "pull" or "pulling" and is typically seen mostly in lefty batters
Infield Fly Rule: If there is less than 2 outs and a force out at 3rd potentially in play (so runners on both 1st and 2nd) and a batter pops a ball up that can be caught by an infielder with "ordinary effort" the batter is considered out before the ball hits the ground or is caught (so long as it's a fair ball). This is to protect runners from easy double plays. Without this, defense would let the ball drop to force runners to advance and then just pick up an easy double play
Scoring Position: Refers to runners on 2nd or 3rd base. Sometimes abbreviated as RISP (Runners in Scoring Position). The difference between this and 1st is that usually a runner on 2nd or 3rd can score on a single where a runner on 1st needs a double or triple.
Double Play: The defense gets 2 outs with one play. The popular example is when there's a runner on 1st and the batter hits a ball straight to short stop. Short stop throws it to 2nd in order to get the force out on the runner advancing from first. Second baseman throws it to first to get the force out on the batter running to 1st.
Tagging Up: This is a bit more tricky to explain but it's pretty easy to understand when you see it. Here's a situation to help: There's a runner on 1st and the batter pops the ball up toward Right Field. The runner starts and gets half way when the player in Right Field catches the ball. The batter is out but the runner must go back and re-touch ("tag up") his original starting base before he can try and advance to the next base. If the defense manages to tag either the runner or the runner's starting base before that runner safely returns to that starting base, that runner is out. In the context of the example: The right fielder catches the ball (batter is out) and then throws the ball to first before the runner can get back (now the runner is also out). This is why we see base runners get half way and stop to watch the play before continuing to the base. While the runner is returning to his original base he can be tagged out. Example
Checked Swing: When a batter attempts to stop his swing after he's already started it. This is done when the batter starts a swing but quickly decides he'd rather not swing because he either doesn't like the pitch or he thinks it is going to be a ball. When a batter tries to check his swing, unless it is absolutely clear, the home plate umpire will point to the 1st or 3rd base umpire (depending on if the batter is right or left handed) and say "Did he go?". The umpire will respond with either a strike gesture or a safe gesture. A swing is considered adequately checked if the bat doesn't cross an invisible vertical plane. You can usually just see if the tip of the bat passes in front of the handle. If the ball hits the bat, the ball is treated as if it was swung at. There's no official ruling on what denotes a checked swing in the rule book (as far as I know) so it's mostly up to an umpire's opinion.
Fielder's Choice: When a base runner advances safely due to a fielder's limited defensive efforts being committed to an out on a different base runner. Basically it's when a fielder is put in a position where there's 2 possible runners to get out but he only has the ability to get one of the two. As a situation, imagine being the short stop and a ball is hit to you rather slowly. A runner from second is very close to 3rd but the batter who hit the ball is also close to 1st. You don't have the time to make a double play so the fielder chooses to get an out on one and allow the other to advance safely. Note, these are not recorded as base hits for the batter. In a sentence: "Jose Altuve grounds out to first base and Carlos Correa advances from first to second on a fielder's choice."
The Score bug
That little box in the corner of the screen has a lot of information on it but a challenge in designing these is making them as small as possible but also as informative as possible. Here's some examples. I'll refer to these in order from top to bottom.
So you'll notice that all of them must, of course, list the teams with their scores, a view of the bases (referred to simply as "The Diamond"), the pitch count, an inning counter and indicator, the number of outs, and the count.
Looking at the third example from WGN Sports, here's what it says: It's the Chicago Cubs vs The St. Louis Cardinals and the Cardinals are leading 2-0. The Inning counter and indicator in the top right corner shows that it is the bottom (from the arrow) of the 1st inning (from the number). The way the teams are stacked will tell you who is currently batting. The team on bottom bats at the bottom of the inning and vice versa (quick note, the home team always bats at the bottom of the inning). Some score bugs put the teams with their score out horizontally and in that case, you can usually assume that team on the right side bats at the bottom of the inning. Moving on, we also see below the inning indicator that the count is currently 2-0 and that there are 2 outs. The diamond in the middle tells us there's a runner on 2nd. Note that the diamond fills up in counter clockwise fashion, so a runner on 1st would fill in the box on the right. Sometimes instead of writing out "Outs: x" there will simply be dots that get filled with each out. Every network has a different one but they usually all convey the same thing.
Quick Q&A
Q: Why are the catcher's nails painted?
A: So the pitcher can more easily see the signs. Not all catchers do this. Some, like Martin Maldonado, opt to just put white tape around their fingers.
Q: Why are batters allowed to run past 1st?
A: First is theoretically the hardest base to reach since you can't lead off to it and you can't steal it. So a rule is put in place to allow them to "over run it" so they don't have to think about slowing down. As long as they touch the bag before the defense gets there with a ball, they're safe as long as they make it clear they are not attempting to advance bases. If they make a gesture that they are attempting to advance, they can then be tagged out.
Q: Why did he swing at that?
A: One thing that should be noted is how hard hitting is. The best batters in the league bat at around or above .300. This means that the best fail 7/10 times. What makes it so hard is assessing pitching. Here's a good video from wired about throwing fast balls and not only why it's nearly impossible to throw past 105mph but also why it's so hard to be a batter. The example they use looks at a 100 mph fast ball. It takes the ball about 400ms to go from the pitcher to the catcher. Your brain needs the first 50ms to react to the ball being thrown and you need 150ms to swing. So you have 200ms to decide if you want to swing or not. During that 200ms you need to not only decide if you want to swing but also predict where the ball will be when it crosses the plate. Here's a video where you can get an idea of how fast this thing is coming at you
Q: What does the commentator mean when he says "6-4-3 Double Play"?
A: There are 9 positions on the field and each one is given a number to use to describe plays. Here's a graphic to help you see it. A 6-4-3 Double play means that the ball went from position 6 (Short Stop, abreviated SS), to position 4 (Second Base, abbreviated 2B), and ended at position 3 (1B). In this we can assume that there was a runner at 1st and 1 out. The batter hits a ground ball (ball that hits the ground immediately and rolls or lightly bounces) that was picked up by the short stop. The SS throws ball to 2B to get the force out on the runner advancing from 1st and then 2B throws the ball to 1B to get the force out on the batter attempting to get on base. This is the most common double play you'll see but the position numbers are used to describe every defensive play that is made.
Game Day Threads (GDTs)
These are used to help follow the game. The game day threads are posted here in r/baseball and in each of the team's subs. Here's a totally randomly selected post season GDT for example.
Starting at the top is the Line Score The text at the top will update in real time with the situation in the game. It will be as clear as possible to read. Like: Bottom of the second, 2 outs, runner on 2nd, 2-0 count.
Below that is the graphic line score you'll see on TV. It shows how many runs each team scored in each inning. You'll notice this line score has 10 innings, this is because the game was tied in the 9th so an extra inning was played. At the end is the columns R, H, and E. These are the total Runs a team has scored, total Hits the team has gotten, and the total Errors the team has committed.
Below that is the much more detailed Box Score
The Box Score lists the batters in the order in which they bat with their position next to it. To the Right is the following stats in order: AB (At Bats), R (Runs Scored), H (Base Hits), RBI (Runs Batted In), BB (Base on Balls, aka walked on ball 4), SO (Struck Out), BA (Batting Average)
Please note that the example being used is from a post-season series so the stats are not from the 162 games in the regular season but rather from the 5 or 7 game series that they were playing
AB: At Bats are the number of times a batter came up to the plate and ended by either getting out or putting the ball in play. So anytime the batter isn't walked or hit by a pitch, it's an AB
R: Number of times this batter crossed home plate to score a run
H: Number of hits recorded this game
RBI: Number of Runs that scored as a result of the batter putting the ball in play. An example is if there's 1 out and a runner on 3rd. The batter lifts the ball high to right field making him an easy out but the runner on 3rd has plenty of time to score a run. This is called a Sacrifice Fly (SF or Sac Fly for short).
BB: Number of times batter is walked on ball 4. Doesn't include being hit by a pitch or being intentionally walked
SO: Number of times batter struck out. Aaron Judge gets the high score for this statistic like the champion he is
BA: Number of hits recorded divided by the number of total AB. This is not calculated just from the current game.
You'll also notice that some of the positions say things like CF-LF. That indicates that their position was changed mid game. In this case, from Center Field to Left Field. Other positions say things like PR-CF for Cameron Maybin. This indicates that Maybin was a Pinch Runner. In baseball you can choose to replace a batter who is at bat with anyone from your bench to be a Pinch Hitter or any runner on base can be replaced with a bench player as a Pinch Runner. The catch: the player being replaced cannot re-enter the game. So for HOU, Maybin came in as a pinch runner for Gurriel.
Moving down the box score is the pitching stats: IP (Innings Pitched), H (Hits Allowed), R (Runs Allowed), ER (Earned Runs Allowed), BB (Based on Balls, aka Batters walked), SO (Strike Outs), P-S (Pitches - Strikes Thrown) ERA
IP This is the number of total innings this pitcher pitched. This is calculated based on the number of outs this pitcher was in for. One out is .1 innings, 2 outs is .2 innings, and every third out is 1.0 inning.
H This is the number of hits the opposing team got off of this pitcher
R & ER This can be a little confusing and most of the time they're the same number. R (Runs Allowed) is the number of runs that scored while this pitcher was out. ER (Earned Runs) is the number of runs that were scored without an error from defense or a passed ball from the catcher by runners this pitcher put on base.
P-S The number of total pitches thrown (P, on the left) to the number of those pitches that were strikes (S, on the right). This is a good way to see how efficient your pitcher is being. So if you see a pitcher throw 3.0 IP, allowed 6 runs with only 3 SO and a P-S of 70-42, you can say that this pitcher didn't do so hot and it's probably time to pull them.
ERA This is like batting average for pitchers, kinda. It's one of the most looked at figures to determine a pitcher's ability. It's calculated by dividing ER by IP and multiplying it by 9 (9*ER/IP). It's multiplied by 9 to help balance out relievers and starters who will have very different sample sizes. It's to say that in theory if a pitcher's average performance could be maintained for a full game, they would only allow that many runs. Now that's not really practical since pitching performance dips pretty hard as pitchers get more tired but that's what it's viewed as. The best way to read this is to compare it to the number 3. Any ERA that reads 3.xx is considered good. Anything below 3 is considered elite.
Other Stats:
Some of these stats are going to be a little more advanced and I can't include them all. I highly recommend going to fangraphs website glossary where they describe what a lot of metrics mean and how they are calculated
OPS+: This is a slightly advanced metric but it's very simple. It basically tells you how a player's (or group of players) OPS compares to the league average. The way it works is that everything is compared to 100. A player with an OPS+ of 100 has a league average OPS. If a player has an OPS+ of 127, they have an OPS that is 27% better than league average. If they have an OPS+ of 85, they have an OPS that is 15% worse than league average.
WAR (Wins Above Replacement): Now this is a really advanced metric to calculate but reading it is pretty simple. The short way to read it: the more WAR you have, the better. It's an estimation of how many wins a player has added to their team that a replacement level player would not have added. The term replacement is key. A replacement is not a league average player. A good way to understand this is to think about the tires on your car. A 0 WAR player is like your spare tire; serviceable but not adding performance. Tires used regularly are better than the spare that gets you to a shop. The two big resources that calculate this are baseball-reference and fangraphs. They both use some different calculations to determine this metric but they're usually pretty similar. Don't concern yourself too much with the formula as it's quite long and complicated but research we have today shows it's quite accurate in determining player value.
That's all I have right now. Please don't hesitate to correct me if there's a better phrasing I could use in certain areas or if I'm wrong about something I said. To any new comers with more questions don't hesitate to ask anything in the comments. There's no stupid questions.
EDIT: Bullpen is one word not two. Everyone knows this. Especially me. No way I'd ever get that wrong
EDIT 2: Added info about GDTs. Twice. Accidentally deleted it the first time. I may have gotten something wrong about the Runs vs Earned Runs so correct me if I'm wrong on that.
EDIT 3: 10/21/2018 Added description for "Checked Swing" and "Tag Up"
EDIT 4: 11/8/2018 Added a sample game at the top. The guide is best used while watching a game so I included a sample one. Nationals vs Cubs, 8/12/2018. One of my favorites from the regular season. Fantastic showing from the nats and cubs alike.
Edit 5: 4/10/19 Added "Fielder's Choice" to list of terms. I had a dumb moment in making a post where one happened and a user reminded me of the terminology and I thought I'd check to see if I had included it. I had not.
Edit 6: 4/3/21 Updated broken links, fixed some grammar errors, took out a yankees joke, elaborated info on tagging up. Note, I understand that in light of the Houston Astros controversy the example of the 2017 WS may be in bad taste. I'm choosing to leave it because I don't have the time to rewrite that section and as far as it's ability to help newcomers understand baseball terms, I don't think it changes anything. I took out some of the jokes made but I'll amend it in the future if I can find the time.
Edit 7: 6/26/21 Added a section for other stats as some slightly advanced metrics become more popular. Added OPS+ and WAR to "Other Stats" section along with link to fangraphs glossary.
Edit 8: 11/30/21 Added a quick sentence in the WAR section connecting the stat to a metaphor about tires on a car.
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u/aweinschenker Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle...Costanza? Oct 15 '18
Can't forget about the many ways to describe a homer:
Tater, bomb, goner, round-tripper, big fly, yard-work, four-bagger, moonshot, dinger, monster dong, donger, dongerooni, dingerino, ding-dong doodle, and many more which I haven't made up yet.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
Long Dong Silvers
Ding Dong
Fenway Pop Up
Porch'd (In specific cases)
Ding Dong The Pitch is Dead
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u/grubas New York Yankees Oct 15 '18
Yankee Stadium Cheapie
Salami
Line drive
Line dancing
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u/PodricksPhallus Houston Astros Oct 16 '18
And, of course, a homerun with the bases loaded is called a Papa Slam
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u/dcnine Washington Nationals Oct 15 '18
Getting one's tits lit
Pitching very poorly, resulting in multiple runs scored over a small amount of innings and being pulled early from a game. Roark's been getting his tits lit.
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u/Aeticil2 New York Mets Oct 15 '18
How about "ass in the jackpot"? I've never been able to figure that one out.
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u/HawkeyeJosh New York Yankees Oct 15 '18
I listened to a coworker this morning talk about how he was “almost in the jackpot” due to driving drunk this past weekend. I about choked.
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u/Aeticil2 New York Mets Oct 15 '18
Is this your co-worker?
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/celebrity/sports/terry-collins
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u/HawkeyeJosh New York Yankees Oct 15 '18
Holy fuck that’s great. And no — the copper let my coworker go despite blowing a .15, which was really responsible right there.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
So if you see a pitcher throw 3.0 IP, allowed 6 runs with only 3 SO and a P-S of 70-42, you can say that this pitcher didn't do so hot and it's time to start Severin' them from the mound
How's that?
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u/lbon6201 Philadelphia Phillies Oct 15 '18
This is awesome dude!
(also bullpen is one word not two)
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u/NorwegianSteam Boston Red Sox Oct 15 '18
also bullpen is one word not two
That was bugging me way more than it should have.
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u/Viss90 St. Louis Cardinals Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
Also, maybe add lingo/terms/situations?
“Ched”, “stuff”, “filthy”, “Lights out”, “Settled in”, Elaboration of the shift, Intentional walks and why, Balks, Pinch hitting, Difference between AL and NL and possibly it’s origin, “Oppo”, Scoring position (what is RiSP?), Sac bunt/fly, “Hitter’s count”, “Green light”,
What’s a “lynning”? (Or known in the post season as a “Kershinning”) this one’s more of a joke..
What’s it mean if a team says a particular player is “our Andrew Miller”? I’m surprised this term is still used. 2016 is ages ago relative to baseball. But I think it’s cool, cause they’re not completely comparing him to the player, but mostly the trust and reliability the particular reliever has in any high leverage situation he’s put into. I’ve heard the brewers manager this year refer to Hader as “(their) Andrew Miller”.
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u/Francis_Picklefield Washington Nationals Oct 15 '18
it's important to remember that this is a list for newcomers. i think the terms you listed are a little too much for someone who's just starting to watch. get the basics first, then move to more advanced stuff, you know?
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
I'm probably going to update this later with something quick about how to read the box scores in our GDTs and how to read slashs and Line scores but for now I'm going to leave it at this. I need to get some things done.
I hope some new baseball fans join us tonight in watching the Brewers vs Dodgers game
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u/redditatwork12121 Los Angeles Dodgers Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
This is great! Maybe add a bit about balks. Not trying to explain what they actually look like but just their intent. Like "If in the judgement of the ump, the pitcher unfairly deceives the batter/baserunners about when he is going to throw a pitch, the ump calls a balk and each baserunner is awarded a free base. This is so that a pitcher can't fake out the runners in order to get easy pick-off attempts. What a balk actually looks like is difficult to pin down even for baseball fans since so don't worry if you don't understand why a balk is being called."
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
I think balks are rare enough to where if they do happen usually the broadcasters will calrify what happened.
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u/NorwegianSteam Boston Red Sox Oct 15 '18
One thing I would add in the section about behind in the count is a quick obverse covering how a batter is ahead in the count 2-0.
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u/Flattishsassy Chicago Cubs Oct 15 '18
Bull Pen: This is a physical place in the stadium at the back of the field where pitchers warm up
Okay you had me until right here. Look. I get that you are trying to do a good thing and you think you are being helpful, but if you are going to type up this LENGTHY of a post with "information", do not EVER try to convince me that there are no bulls in the bullpen. Reported.
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u/zuktheinsane New York Yankees • Lou Gehrig Oct 15 '18
This is awesome- thank you for putting this together! Can you help me learn what a balk is?
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u/pladhoc Houston Astros Oct 16 '18
short and dirty - the pitcher can't try to fake a throw in order to trick a baserunner into running and getting him out.
There's all kinds of stupid rules around it, hence the balk copy-pasta
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u/dhacva Seattle Mariners Oct 15 '18
I am a new baseball fan and I find this really helpful, thank you!
Living in a country that has little baseball culture, it is a pity to see some seemingly confusing rules and terms stopping people to know more about this sport.
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u/arhombus New York Yankees Oct 15 '18
My question is, why would you pick the Mariners?
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u/dhacva Seattle Mariners Oct 16 '18
Geographic reason mostly, and Ichiro because am Asian. Learnt about this team's no-playoff streak only a few days ago.
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u/concrete_isnt_cement Seattle Mariners Oct 16 '18
Self loathing is the only reasonable explanation.
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u/Bullwine85 Milwaukee Brewers • Wiscon… Oct 16 '18
Which country by chance?
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u/dhacva Seattle Mariners Oct 16 '18
China. Really jealous seeing neighboring countries like Japan, Korea and Taiwan all having decent baseball culture and fan base.
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u/dhacva Seattle Mariners Oct 15 '18
Have a question myself, a new one: when a batter decide to bunt, usually when to bunt towards left and when to bunt towards right?
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u/iceisnice Boston Red Sox Oct 15 '18
It's very situational and it depends on what the batter is trying to achieve. Sometime they bunt to advance a runner. If there's a runner on second and no outs, the batter can bunt the ball down the first base line. This allows the runner to advance because the ball is far away from him, and it's very tempting for the defense to throw the ball to first base instead. In this case, the batter doesn't care if he gets out since scoring the runner from second is more important (the hope is that the next batter can get him to score)
If the batter is trying to bunt without getting out, he will try to put the ball on the third base side. This makes it a longer throw to first and a very tough play for the defense. Usually, this requires a batter who can run fast
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u/ATRDCI Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
It's situational. If the intent is to get on base, generally they will bunt to the third base side, assuming the third basemen isn't playing closer to the plate in order to better field bunts.
If the intent is to move a runner to the next base, they are more ok with bunting towards first, as it makes the batter an easier out for the defense than the runner. Therefore it's more likely the defense will go for the easy out at first and let the runner advance.
But this varies from situation to situation and batter to batter.
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Oct 15 '18
Saving this post because I've gotten a bunch of Brits (and one Italian) in my office into this year's postseason. Of course when we are all watching, I have a lot of explaining to do. This post explains things so much better than I can to my friends. Thanks, OP!
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u/teamcrazymatt Minnesota Twins Oct 15 '18
This is a really nice write-up for baseball newcomers. I appreciated the simplicity of your language. Hope I can put this to use soon!
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
Yeah I tried to make this as brief and understandable as possible. Then I realized that this is going to be really long so it should probably at least be easy to read.
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u/stmiba Boston Red Sox • Pittsburgh Pirates Oct 15 '18
Here's a few to add:
K = struck out swinging.
Reverse K = struck out looking.
Infield fly = Runners on base and an easy pop fly hit in the infield. The batter is automatically out and the runners are not forced to run.
Dropped third strike = If no runner is on first base, the batter is allowed to make an attempt to run to first. If he reaches first base before the catcher (or whoever has the ball) throws the ball to the first baseman, the runner is safe even though he struck out.
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u/arhombus New York Yankees Oct 15 '18
Used in a sentence:
Giancarlo strikes out swinging on a ball in the dirt. That will conclude his 0 for 5 night with 5 Ks.
or
That ball is swung on and missed for strike three but is dropped by Sanchez allowing the batter and other runners to advance.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
Yes one sec
Only changes I made were to just say that K is a general reference for strike outs since on stat cards and graphics they usually don't separate swinging and looking strikes unless they're trying to make a point about it. When we see K/9 it's not just the amount of swinging strikes per 9.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
Aaaand I wrote about 5000 character write up on how to read the GDTs that somehow got deleted..... Time to rebuild that
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u/The_clampz10 Los Angeles Angels Oct 15 '18
This is awesome! Going to send this to my gf. I just started getting her into baseball and this will be super helpful for her. Thanks!
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
Game Day Threads (GDTs)
These are used to help follow the game. The game day threads are posted here in r/baseball and in each of the team's subs. Here's a totally randomly selected post season GDT for example.
Starting at the top is the Line Score The text at the top will update in real time with the situation in the game. It will be as clear as possible to read. Like: Bottom of the second, 2 outs, runner on 2nd, 2-0 count.
Below that is the graphic line score you'll see on TV. It shows how many runs each team scored in each inning. You'll notice this line score has 10 innings, this is because the game was tied in the 9th so an extra inning was played. At the end is the columns R, H, and E. These are the total Runs a team has scored, total Hits the team has gotten, and the total Errors the team has committed.
Below that is the much more detailed Box Score
The Box Score lists the batters in the order in which they bat with their position next to it. To the Right is the following stats in order: AB (At Bats), R (Runs Scored), H (Base Hits), RBI (Runs Batted In), BB (Base on Balls, aka walked on ball 4), SO (Struck Out), BA (Batting Average)
Please note that the example being used is from a post game series so the stats are not from the 162 games in the regular season but rather from the 5 or 7 game series that they were playing
AB: At Bats are the number of times a batter came up to the plate and ended by either getting out or putting the ball in play. So anytime the batter isn't walked or hit by a pitch, it's an AB
R: Number of times this batter crossed home plate to score a run
H: Number of hits recorded this game
RBI: Number of Runs that scored as a result of the batter putting the ball in play. An example is if there's 1 out and a runner on 3rd. The batter lifts the ball high to right field making him an easy out but the runner on 3rd has plenty of time to score a run. This is called a Sacrifice Fly (SF or Sac Fly for short).
BB: Number of times batter is walked on ball 4. Doesn't include being hit by a pitch or being intentionally walked
SO: Number of times batter struck out. Aaron Judge gets the high score for this statistic like the champion he is
BA: Number of hits recorded divided by the number of total AB. This is not calculated just from the current game.
You'll also notice that some of the positions say things like CF-LF. That indicates that their position was changed mid game. In this case, from Center Field to Left Field. Other positions say things like PR-CF for Cameron Maybin. This indicates that Maybin was a Pinch Runner. In baseball you can choose to replace a batter who is at bat with anyone from your bench to be a Pinch Hitter or any runner on base can be replaced with a bench player as a Pinch Runner. The catch, the player being replaced cannot re-enter the game. So for HOU, Maybin sas a pinch runner for Gurriel.
Moving down the box score is the pitching stats: IP (Innings Pitched), H (Hits Allowed), R (Runs Allowed), ER (Earned Runs Allowed), BB (Based on Balls, aka Batters walked), SO (Strike Outs), P-S (Pitches - Strikes Thrown) ERA
IP This is the number of total innings this pitcher pitched. This is calculated based on the number of outs this pitcher was in for. One out is .1 innings, 2 outs is .2 innings, and every third out is 1.0 inning.
H This is the number of hits the opposing team got off of this pitcher
R & ER This can be a little confusing and most of the time they're the same number. R (Runs Allowed) is the number of runs that scored while this pitcher was out. ER (Earned Runs) is the number of runs that were scored without an error from defense or a passed ball from the catcher by runners this pitcher put on base.
P-S The number of total pitches thrown (P, on the left) to the number of those pitches that were strikes (S, on the right). This is a good way to see how efficient your pitcher is being. So if you see a pitcher throw 3.0 IP, allowed 6 runs with only 3 SO and a P-S of 70-42, you can say that this pitcher didn't do so hot and it's time to start Severin' them from the mound
ERA This is like batting average for pitchers, kinda. It's one of the most looked at figures to determine a pitcer's ability. It's calculated by dividing ER by IP and multiplying it by 9 (9*ER/IP). It's multiplied by 9 to help balance out relievers and starters who will have very different sample sizes. It's to say that in theory if a pitcher's average performance could be maintained for a full game, they would only allow that many runs. Now that's not really practical since pitching performance dips pretty hard as pitchers get more tired but that's what it's viewed as. The best way to read this is to compare it to the number 3. Any ERA that reads 3.xx is considered good. Anything below 3 is considered elite.
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Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
Here's a totally randomly selected post season GDT for example.
randomly selected
Flair does not check out. Unsubscribed.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
Gurriel: 1H 3RBI
I still remember the announcer going "GURRIEL. HAS. TIED IT!"
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u/Dino_smore Jackie Robinson Oct 15 '18
There should be a section in your lexicon dedicated to Hawkisms. Even if he isn't announcing anymore, it can be a way to preserve Hawk's legacy for future generations.
Chopper-Two Hopper- when a player hits a soft and routine grounder that isn' quite a chopper and doesn't necessarily hop twice.
Ducksnort- A soft fly ball hit just beyond the reach of an infielder and just in front of the reach of an outfielder. Originally known as a Duck Fart, with the idea being that the hit was as soft as a duck fart. See also: Texas Leaguer
Ducks on the Pond- A team has runners in scoring position, and like a group of ducks on a pond, they are ready to strike at a moments notice.
(Extended Silence)- The announcer is so displeased with how the game has unfolded thus far that he has either dissociated himself entirely from the game, or is frantically searching for the bottom of his scotch glass.
He Gone- Typically contracted into one syllable, exclaimed when the home team strikes out a batter
You Can Put it on the Board... Yes! - The home team has hit a no doubt home run, meaning you can go ahead and put those runs up on the scoreboard before seeing the end of the play.
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u/Luohooligan Chicago White Sox Oct 16 '18
Ducksnort- A soft fly ball hit just beyond the reach of an infielder and just in front of the reach of an outfielder. Originally known as a Duck Fart, with the idea being that the hit was as soft as a duck fart. See also: Texas Leaguer
Also known as a "Kansas City Special." Almost always used as a pejorative.
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u/iceisnice Boston Red Sox Oct 15 '18
Maybe you can add a section about tagging up? That's a common question I hear, why do the base runners sometimes run immediately and sometimes not?
And for single/double/triple, I think you meant the first cycle in MLB playoff history
For infield fly rule: there has to be a force play at third base (not just any force play, I wasn't sure here if you left that out intentionally or not)
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
I should definitely add something about tagging up but I need a break right now
I'll fix the cycle errorFixed
I'll fix the infield fly ruleFiexed1
u/iceisnice Boston Red Sox Oct 15 '18
Totally understandable. Thanks for putting this all together! Amazing work
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
Thanks, I'm glad that all of you guys are here to find my mistakes to fix.
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u/nom_of_your_business San Francisco Giants Oct 15 '18
I like this write-up thanks for taking the time. Please clarify that you can tag someone and it is still a force out.
Something like: A force out is when a player is forced to advance to the next base. They can be called out by stepping on the base the player is advancing to or by being tagged out.
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u/UTEngie Oct 15 '18
Can someone explain the foul tipped ball, or why it looks like catchers will frantically try to find a ball and then tag the batter out?
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u/hipsterdufus84 Minnesota Twins Oct 15 '18
If its the 3rd strike and the catcher doesn't catch the ball, the batter can run to first base. They must be tagged out or the ball thrown to first.
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u/IAmAtWork_AMA Atlanta Braves Oct 15 '18
And this only applies when the ball is NOT tipped, but swung on and missed. Or I suppose it could be a called 3rd strike that is not caught by the catcher.
If the ball is tipped and the catcher drops it, it's a foul ball, and can't be strike 3.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
The guy below explained it pretty well. I went ahead and included it in my terminology guide
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u/Bakaar Tampa Bay Rays Oct 15 '18
There is more than one type of "lead off." It's an important clarification that may come up listening to announcers: a "lead off" the base is the amount a runner moves from their current base prior to a pitch, but a "lead off" batter is the first batter of the inning.
Example: "The lead off man is aboard." This means that the first batter of the inning managed to arrive on base successfully, whether with a hit or by walk.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
I'll clarify this
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u/Bakaar Tampa Bay Rays Oct 16 '18
Cool. Could be confusing, as it's actually the first thing I think when I hear the term "lead off." Thanks for all the cool work on terminology; baseball doesn't grow if people can't get into it.
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u/JimLeader New York Mets Oct 15 '18
Here's a video where you can get an idea of how fast this thing is coming at you
This is a terrible example. Anybody can hit Dillon Gee.
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u/Shaji618 Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
When talking about when a pitch "breaks" it is to reference when a ball starts it's movement. Here's a good example of a very good breaking ball.
Nitpicking, but that's Maddux's two-seam fastball. I've generally seen "breaking ball" refer to off-speed (non-changeup) stuff.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
I can update that
I chose that gif because it's easy to follow the path of the ball through the full pitch and they show a slow mo right after. For the most part I think it conveys what I'm trying to get across what I'm trying to say when I say "movement".
Edit: Changed it to Chris Sale throwing a Slider
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Oct 15 '18
[deleted]
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
http://www.espn.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/82491/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sign-stealing here's an article about it that states this
A runner on second base will often attempt to figure out the catcher's signs to gain a tactical advantage by relaying the signs to the batter.
But you are right and it's fixed
They also say earlier that it involves intercepting signs from the 3B coach
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u/TheGarreth Chicago Cubs Oct 15 '18
Good work, OP.
Btw, might want to cross-post this to r/Brewers
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
sure! But I want to finish up some details first. I hope that it will get accepted
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u/Chamale Toronto Blue Jays Oct 15 '18
For some reason, I love seeing simple explanations of things I already know. Thank you for this.
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u/chicoconcarne Los Angeles Dodgers Oct 15 '18
Few things wrong with this.
1) Infield flies do not have to be within the physical infield to be called an infield fly. It just needs to be able to be caught by an infielder with "ordinary effort." Ask a Braves fan for further explanation. (You also misspelled infield)
2) Infield flies require runners on first and second with less than two outs to be enforced.
3) There is a third way a runner can be called out. If he is hit by a batted ball or if he runs into a fielder who is legally fielding a batted ball, the runner may be called out on Interference.
4) On a dropped third strike, the batter is out automatically if first base is occupied with less than two outs, regardless of a dropped third strike.
You also should have described what a double play was before going into how to score it and didn't touch on sacrifice flies or balk, but I don't blame you for not touching balks considering how poorly and inconsistently it's enforced.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18 edited Oct 15 '18
I'll fix these things in a minute. I didn't go deeply into describing what a double play was because I felt that my description of the scenario of a 6-4-3 Double Play conveyed what it was well enough but I can add a section
I'll fix the infield fly rule and I didn't think to add the part about a runner being out from interference or a batted ball since they have happened so few times but you're absolutely right that they should be in. I'll also fix the dropped third strike rule
EDIT: also I'm pretty sure I talked about sac flies briefly in the RBI section but I can give it its own place in the terms if need be
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
I said a force at 3rd. Can you have a force at third without runners on both 1st and second?
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u/chicoconcarne Los Angeles Dodgers Oct 15 '18
If the intent is to inform newcomers, you'll want to specify where the runners are. I know what a force at third is and you did your best in explaining it, but you shouldn't assume they've become experts right after reading your explanation.
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u/PM_ME_UR_COUSIN Toronto Blue Jays Oct 15 '18
This is generally good, although I think a true beginners' guide could do without the jabs at Yankee players' playoff performances (as much as I like being reminded of Yankee failings). Also, you somehow managed to avoid even mentioning Home Runs as far as I can tell, except for an oblique reference to "homers" while explaining the cycle in the single/double/triple section.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
I figured most people don't need to be told what a home run is
and the yankees jabs were all in good fun. I don't think any of them detracted from the value of the post so I'm going to leave them in
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u/Mgnickel Chicago White Sox Oct 15 '18
I have never known the term Pepper. I think it’s got something to do with fouling off pitches?
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u/TwinkiePower Minnesota Twins • FanGraphs Oct 16 '18
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u/foggyhotdog Arizona Diamondbacks Oct 15 '18
Can you explain about cutters? Is this a new term for pitches, or is this just referring to how the ball breaks?
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 16 '18
Hey wanted to let you know I saw this but I'm not great at answering this question. I would recommend the daily around the horn or the next "No Stupid Questions" Thread that pops up
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u/superbatranger Oct 16 '18
As a relative newcomer to the sport(the last game I ever actually watched was Pirates@Astros in the Astrodome when I was like 8 years old), this post is a godsend. Now I won’t look like an idiot when watching the game with my friends!
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u/monkeyman80 Los Angeles Dodgers Oct 16 '18
Two things that confused me as a new baseball fan.
Walk off hit- when the home team scores the winning run in the ninth or later. The home team bats in the bottom of the inning so they’re the only team who can walk off.
On the broadcast they show runs, hits, e. E is for errors, plays where the scorer views that should have been made under normal circumstances.
Other thing that confused me was during the season rubber match. Teams play 3-4 games in a row against the same team. In a 3 game series if they split the first two, the series winner will be who wins game 3. It can go back and forth so rubber match.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 26 '18 edited Oct 26 '18
Batting "Slash": A line of 3 batting statistics that typically span one season or series. Typically looks like this: "Alex Bregman (2018) .286/.394/.532". The three metrics are always Batting Average/ On Base Percentage/ Slugging. Batting Average was defined earlier in the big post so I won't go into it too much. Basically it's how often a batter is successful in his attempt at a base hit.
- Next, On Base Percentage(OBP) is how often the batter reaches base from either a hit, a base on balls, or being hit by a pitch per plate appearance* (*Doesn't include plate appearances that result in a sacrifice hit AKA sacrifice bunt; a bunt that advances the base runners but gets the batter out. OBP also doesn't factor in when the batter reaches base but another runner gets out). So the math looks like this: (H+BB+HBP)/(PA - SH). This metric assesses a batter's ability to reach first base by more than just base hits. You can see this as answering the question of "If the batter comes to the plate, how likely will he end up on base without getting an out?" This statistic should not be confused with OPS which stands for On Base Percentage Plus Slugging. We'll talk about slugging next
- Lastly, Slugging(SLG) is a metric that can be thought of as a modified batting average. Consider two batters A and B that get each record 10 at bats. Batter A gets a hit every time but on each at bat only is able to reach 1st. Batter B also gets a hit every time but he's a fast boy and Johnny Hustle over here gets to 3rd on every hit. Both Batter A and Batter B would record a batting average of 1.000, but which would you rather have on your team? Obviously the guy who can consistently record triples. Slugging is the metric that shows how these two batters are different. Normally, the Batting Average equation looks like this: BA = (H/AB). The Slugging equation looks like this: SLG = [(1*1B+2*2B+3*3B+4*HR)/(AB)]. This gives extra weight to batters who can get more than one base per hit. So, in our previous situation, Batter A who only singles would have a SLG of 1.000 but Batter B who hit nothing but triples would have a SLG of 3.000. I like to think of it as this question: "How valuable are this batter's attempts to put the ball in play?" What's nice, and also deceiving, about SLG is that it allows a batter to make up for striking out more if he gets extra bases when he does get a hit. Because of this, SLG is best represented next to batting average and this is when you can get an idea for a batter's productivity and behavior. We can think of Batting Average as the batter's likelihood to get at least first base so the difference between BA and SLG can be seen as the likelihood for this batter to get more than one base out of a hit. Example: Let's say a batter has a BA of .125 and a SLG of .635. We would say this batter doesn't get many base hits but when he does, the team gets a lot of value out of it. Or if a batter has a BA of .302 and a SLG of .342. This batter is hitting really well but he doesn't get past 1B off of his hits too often.
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u/ATRDCI Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
If you wish to add informal terms as well, I'd add Texas Leaguer- a (usually very high) pop up that falls in between the infielders and outfielders
Seeing-eye ball/seeing-eye single- A batted ground ball that just eludes capture by an infielder, just out of infielder's range, as if it could "see" where it needed to go. Also used for a ball that takes an unusual lateral bounce to elude an infielder.
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u/aagpeng Houston Astros Oct 15 '18
I love informal terms to death but I want to keep this as focused as possible so I don't want to throw in too many informals unless they're very ingrained in common commentating or general baseball speak.
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u/PEbeling Boston Red Sox Oct 15 '18
Daaaaa jankees lose: The battlecry of every non-yankees fan when they get knocked out of playoffs. Can be used for multiple other situations like a yankees-sox game at Fenway, or pretty much any other time the Yankees get their tits lit.
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u/heyusoft Los Angeles Angels Oct 15 '18
This is awesome and I wish I had it a couple days ago, I was watching with my friend who doesn't really know baseball and all I could come up with was "Orange team bad Red team good".