Balls and strikes (baseball)

In baseball, the strike zone is a conceptual three dimensional right angle pentagonal over home plate which defines the boundaries through which a pitch must pass in order to count as a strike when the batter does not swing.

Definition

A batter who is at-bat is attempting to get on base. The pitcher is attempting to prevent this by delivering three strikes, after which the batter is ruled out ("exception, see uncaught third strike"); a batter who accumulates four balls in a single appearance has drawn a base on balls (or "walk") and is awarded first base. In very early iterations of the rules during the 19th century, it took up to 9 balls for a batter to earn a walk; however, to make up for this, the batter could request the ball to be pitched high, low, or medium.

A strike shall be called and added to the batter's count, when he:
* Swings at a pitched ball and fails to hit it ("swing and miss", "strike swinging"). According to MLB Rule 2.00 Definition of Terms, STRIKE (a), a pitch is called a strike if it " [i] s struck at by the batter and is missed". [http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/official_info/official_rules/definition_terms_2.jsp] This includes when he:
** Attempts to bunt a pitched ball and fails to hit it.
** Touches a pitched ball with his body while striking at it with the bat.
* Fails to swing at a pitched ball which is called a strike—determined to be in the strike zone—by the umpire. ("called strike", "strike looking")
* Hits a pitched ball into foul territory when there are fewer than two strikes in the at-bat. (foul ball)
* Bunts a pitched ball into foul territory. This counts as a foul strike regardless of the number of strikes already charged to the batter.
* Touches a pitched ball while it is in the strike zone. (Intentional touching of a pitched ball is not allowed; "see" hit by pitch.)
* Hits a foul tip; that is, ticks the ball which goes directly to the catcher's glove and is caught.
* Refuses to enter the batter's box when ordered to do so by the umpire. Before 2006, the rule called for the umpire to order the pitcher to deliver a directed pitch when the batter refused to enter the batter's box. This pitch would then be called a strike regardless of its location or the number of strikes already accumulated by the batter. However, this rule did not clarify whether or not the batter had the right to swing at a directed pitch, and as such, there were a few incidents when a batter swung at and put a directed pitch into play. MLB amended this rule in 2006 and completely did away with the directed pitch method. The new rule states that if a batter refuses to enter the box when ordered by the umpire to do so, the umpire shall call time and immediately add a strike to the batter's count without a pitch being thrown.

A normal foul strike cannot count against the batter as his third strike; the third strike must be a swing and miss, called strike, touched ball, foul bunt or foul tip.

References