Baseball Vocab

Vocab

• Ball – obviously this is the round white thing with stitching that the pitcher throws and hitters hit and everything but a ball also has another meaning in baseball. A ball is also when a pitch is thrown but it is outside the strike zone for the hitter and the hitter did not swing at it.
  • 4 balls = a walk
• Base – the 3 white squares that the runner must touch in order to be safe and/or score
• Bases loaded – when there are runners on 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd base with another player up to bat
• Batters box – the area around home plate where the hitter must stand to hit the ball
• Bullpen – the area that the relief pitchers warm up before entering the game.
  • It can also be used to describe the relief pitchers in general: “the Rays have an impressive bullpen” just means that they have a lot of talented relief pitchers.
• Bunt – a light hit on the ball made without swinging the bat. Usually this sacrifices the hitter to advance the runner already on base.
• Catcher – the player behind home plate who spends most of the game in a squatting position catching the balls thrown by the pitcher
• Change up – a slow pitch that has the same throwing motion as a fast ball

• Curve ball – a pitch that has a lot of spin in a different direction causing the ball to curve/drop to trick the hitter
• Double – when a hitter advances 2 bases after a hit
• Double header – playing 2 games back to back
• Double play – when the team playing in the field gets 2 base runners out in one hit
• Dugout – where the players wait to bat
• Fast ball – a pitch that is thrown as fast as the pitcher can manage
• Fly ball – a hit ball that goes high up in the air
• Foul ball – a hit ball that goes outside the white chalked foul lines or large yellow foul poles in the left and right corners of the outfield
• Full Count – when the batter has 2 strikes and 3 balls against him
• Grand slam – a home run that is scored with 3 runners on base
• Grounder – when a hit baseball skids across the ground
  • A Groundout – when the fielding team gets the batter out from a grounder before he can reach first base.
• Hitter/batter – the player that is up to bat
• Home plate – the base that looks like a pentagon that the runner must touch to score (also the base that the hitter stands by)

• HR – Home Run – when a hitter advances all 4 bases after hitting a ball over the outfield fence
• Infield – the area that starts at the catcher and ends where the dirt meets the outfield grass
• Inning – the play period where both teams get to hit
• Knuckleball – a pitch that moves slowly with no spin and moves erratically
• Left on – the number of runners still on base when the inning ends
• Line drive – a ball hit straight and hard
• Lineup – the order of batters
  • Most of the time, you see your best players at the top of the batting order with your best player in the 4th position – ideally because if your first 3 players were to get on base, he would be the ideal candidate to hit a HR/Grand Slam.
• Out – dismissed or to have one’s turn ended
  • 3 strikes = 1 Out
  • 3 Outs = end of the inning
• Outfield – area in between the infield and the outfield wall, usually all grass
• Pitcher – the player 60’ 6” directly in front of the catcher, in the middle of the field on the mound throwing the ball to the hitters
• Pitcher’s mound – the dirt in the middle of the field where the pitcher stands
• Play – a move in the game, typically involving an out
• Popfly – a ball hit straight into the air. Usually results in a ‘flyout’ when the fielding team catches the pop fly
• Run – a score earned when a runner gets safely to home plate
• Runner – once a hitter gets a hit and is safely on base he becomes a runner
• Shortstop – the player standing between 2^nd and 3^rd base
• Single (Base Hit) – when a batter advances to 1^st after a hit
• Slider – a pitch that looks like a fastball until it breaks at the plate
• Steal – when a runner on base runs to the next base in between pitches without a hit on the ball
• Strike – when a pitched ball is inside the strike zone over home plate and the batter does not swing – or – if the batter swings and misses the pitch
• Strike out (‘K’) – if the pitcher gets 3 strikes on a batter. It does not have to be 3 straight strikes.
• Strike Zone – the invisible rectangular box over home plate (typically from chest to knees) that the pitcher has to get the ball into to call it a strike

• Tag – to get a runner out by touching them with the ball (in glove or not)
• Triple – when a hitter advances 3 bases after a hit
• Umpire – the referees in baseball

• Walk – when a hitter gets 4 balls in an at bat

Those pesky stat acronyms

• AB – At Bats
  • How many times a player steps up to the plate to bat in a game or season
• AVG – Batting Average
  • Take total hits divided by at bats, shown between 1.000 – .000
  • Remember that doesn’t actually mean just contact on the ball – the batter has to get on base. The league average is usually around .250. The higher this number is the better.
• BB – Base on Balls
  • Basically how many times a batter is walked on base
  • IBB – intentional walk, when a pitcher puts a hitter on base on purpose
• E – Error
  • Only given out by the official scorer who judges that an average fielder should have been able to make that play or not
  • #GFHint: the MLB sees the most Errors at the SS and 3B positions because they usually get trickier balls to field (odd grounders or throws across the field)
• ERA – Earned Run Average
  • The most common stat for pitchers, this means how many runs have been earned against the pitcher per 9 innings (errors do not count into the calculation)
• H – Hits
  • When a hitter hits the ball and reaches a base (not by an error). If that hitter gets out when running to 2^nd base after successfully reaching 1^st then it still counts as a Hit
• HR – Home Runs
  • When a player hits a fair ball and scores on the play usually by hitting over the outfield fence
    • There are Inside the Park HRs, although they are extremely rare. The batter must run all 4 bases without being tagged out and it cannot be due to an error.
• IP – Innings Pitched
  • You’ll see this during a game for a pitcher along with the pitch count
• K – Strikeouts
  • If you see the K backwards, it means that the hitter got out on a 3^rd strike that he did not swing on
• OBP – On Base Percentage
  • How often a batter reaches a base per plate appearance. Errors do not count but being hit by a pitch and walks do. Sacrificial bunts do not get counted in this stat at all as it is rarely the player’s choice to sacrifice

• OPS – On-Base Plus Slugging
  • Adds SLG percentage with OBP
  • This is basically a player’s production number. It takes into consideration both how often a batter gets on base but also if they are hitting for extra bases.
• R – Runs
  • A runner gets a Run when he crosses home plate to score or you can also see this for a team during a game
• RBI – Runs Batted In
  • Exactly like it sounds, a hitter gets a RBI if his turn at bat resulted in a run being scored
    • Cannot get a RBI off an error but can by getting hit by a pitch or a walk
• SB – Stolen Base
• SLG – Slugging percentage
  • The total number of bases a player gets per at-bat. It gives weight to how many times a player gets a double or triple or HR, not just hits at bat.
• Triple Crown – when a batter leads a league in RBIs, AVG and HR in the same season. For Pitchers its Wins, K’s and ERA.
  • The only semi-recent Triple Crown for batters was Miguel Cabrera (Tigers) in 2012 (then you have to go back to 1967)
  • Pitching Triple Crowns are slightly more common. The most recent being 2 in 2011 by Justin Verlander (Tigers) and Clayton Kershaw (Dodgers).

Now that you’ve read this list, it should be easier to understand the Rules of the Game page!