Baseball Terms and Definitions

[Sox Fan on Cape]

I thought it might be helpful to have a reference of baseball terms used in some of the threads with regards to statistical data. I'll start with a general primer of terms and statistics. It would be helpful, if other members would contribute other more specific definitions. Especially, if you use them in a post. Because of size limitations ( 10,000 ) I had to divide it up into mutiple posts. Mods adjust or delete as you see fit.





Part I: Definitions of Abbreviations
You probably know what most of the abbreviations stand for, but just in case:
For Batters:

G = Games
AB = At-Bats
H = Hits
2B = Doubles
3B = Triples
HR = Home Runs
Hm = Home Runs at Home
Rd = Home Runs on the Road
TB = Total Bases
R = Runs
RBI = Runs Batted In
BI = Runs Batted In
TBB = Total Bases on Balls
IBB = Intentional Bases on Ball
SO = Strikeouts
HBP = Times Hit by Pitches
SH = Sacrifice Hits
SF = Sacrifice Flies
SB = Stolen Bases
CS = Times Caught Stealing
SB% = Stolen Base Percentage
GDP = Times Grounded into Double Plays
Avg = Batting Average
OBP = On-Base Percentage
SLG = Slugging Percentage
OPS = OBP + SLG
SEC = Secondary Average
BB = Walks
PA = Plate Appearances
RAT = Ratio of AB/HR
RC = Runs Created
RC/27 = Runs Created per 27 outs
Ht = Height
Wt = Weight
Yr = Year
Lg = Minor League Level
POS = Position
GB = Number of Fair Ground Balls Hit (hits, outs and errors)
FB = Number of Fly Balls Hit (excludes line drives)
G/F = Ratio of Grounders to Fly Balls
BFP = Batters Facing Pitchers
#Pit = Number of Pitches Offered to the Hitter
#P/PA = Average Number of Pitches per Plate Appearance
* = Bats Left-handed
# = Switch Hitter

For Pitchers:

G = Games Pitched
GS = Games Started
CG = Complete Games
GF = Games Finished
IP = Innings Pitched
BFP = Batters Facing Pitcher
H = Hits Allowed
R = Runs Allowed
ER = Earned Runs Allowed
HR = Home Runs Allowed
SH = Sacrifice Hits Allowed
SF = Sacrifice Flies Allowed
HB = Hit Batsmen
TBB = Total Bases on Balls
IBB = Intentional Bases on Ball
SO = Strikeouts
WP = Wild Pitches
Sup = Run Support per Nine Innings
RS = Run Support per Nine Innings
IR = Inherited Runners
IRS = Inherited Runners who Scored
QS = Quality Starts
SvOp = Save Opportunities
GB = Groundballs Hit Against the Pitcher (hits, outs and errors)
FB = Fly Balls Hit Against the Pitcher (excludes line drives)
GF = Ratio of Grounders to Flies
G/F = Ratio of Grounders to Flies
Bk = Balks
W = Wins
L = Losses Pct. = Winning Percentage
ShO = Shutouts
Sv = Saves
ERA = Earned Run Average
Sv = Saves
BB = Walks Issued
Avg = Batting Average Allowed by Pitcher
RAT = Ratio of SO/AB
Ht = Height
Wt = Weight
POS = Position
Yr = Year
Lg = Minor League Level
ShO = Shutouts
* = Throws Left-handed
For Fielders
G = Number of Games at Position
GS = Number of Starts
Innings = Number of Innings at Position
PO = Putouts
A = Assists
E = Errors
DP = Double Plays Turned
Fld.Pct = Fielding Percentage
Rng.Fctr = Range Factor
In Zone = Balls Hit in the Player's Area
Outs = Number of Outs Resulting from a Ball Hit to a Player
Zone Rtg = Zone Rating (see Definitions)
MLB Zone = Major League Average Zone Rating for that Position

[b]Source : http://www.baseballtips.com/glossary.html

[Sox Fan on Cape]

Part II: Definitions of Terms
% Inherited Scored
A Relief Pitching statistic indicating the percentage of runners on base at the time a relief pitcher enters a game that he allows to score.

1st Batter OBP
The On-Base Percentage allowed by a relief pitcher to the first batter he faces in a game.

Active Career Batting Leaders
Minimum of 1,000 At Bats required for Batting Average, On-Base Percentage, Slugging Percentage, At Bats Per HR, At Bats Per GDP, At Bats Per RBI, and K/BB Ratio. One hundred (100) Stolen Base Attempts required for Stolen Base Success %. Any player who appeared in 1995 is eligible for inclusion provided he meets the category's minimum requirements.

Active Career Pitching Leaders
Minimum of 750 Innings Pitched required for Earned Run Average, Opponent Batting Average, all of the Per 9 Innings categories, and Strikeout to Walk Ratio. Two hundred fifty (250) Games Started required for Complete Game Frequency. One hundred (100) decisions required for Win-Loss Percentage. Any player who appeared in 1995 is eligible for inclusion provided he meets the category's minimum requirements.

BA ScPos Allowed
Batting Average Allowed with Runners in Scoring Position.

Baserunners per Nine Innings
These are the hits, walks and hit batsmen allowed per nine innings.

Bases Loaded
This category shows a player's batting average in bases loaded situation.

Batting Average
Hits divided by At Bats.

Bequeathed Runners
Any runner(s) on base when a pitcher leaves a game are considered bequeathed to the departing hurler; the opposite of inherited runners (see below).

Blown Saves
This is charged any time a pitcher comes into a game where a save situation is in place and he loses the lead.

Catcher's ERA
The Earned Run Average of a club's pitchers with a particular catcher behind the plate. To figure this for a catcher, multiply the Earned Runs Allowed by the pitchers while he was catching times nine and divide that by his number of Innings Caught.

Cheap Wins/Tough Losses/Top Game Scores
First determine the starting pitcher's Game Score as follows:
(1)Start with 50.
(2)Add 1 point for each out recorded by the starting pitcher.
(3)Add 2 points for each inning the pitcher completes after the fourth inning.
(4)Add 1 point for each strikeout.
(5)Subtract 2 points for each hit allowed.
(6)Subtract 4 points for each earned run allowed.
(7)Subtract 2 points for an unearned run.
(8)Subtract 1 point for each walk.
If the starting pitcher scores over 50 and loses, it's a Tough Loss. If he wins with a game score under 50, it's a Cheap Win.

Cleanup Slugging%
The Slugging Percentage of a player when batting fourth in the batting order.

Clutch
This category shows a player's batting average in the late innings of close games: the seventh inning or later with the batting team ahead by one, tied, or has the tying run on base, at bat or on deck.

Complete Game Frequency
Complete Games divided by Games Started.

Defensive Batting Average
A composite statistic incorporating various defensive statistics to arrive at a number akin to batting average. The formula uses standard deviations to establish a spread from best to worst.

Earned Run Average
(Earned Runs times 9) divided by Innings Pitched.

Fast-A
Otherwise known as "Advanced A," these A-level minor leagues are the California League, Carolina League and Florida Stat League.

Favorite Toy
The Favorite Toy is a method that is used to estimate a player's chance of getting to a specific goal in the following example, we'll say 3,000 hits.
Four things are considered:

1) Need Hits - the number of hits needed to reach the goal. (This, of course, could also be "Need Home Runs" or "Need Doubles" - Whatever.)
2) Years Remaining. The number of years remaining to meet the goal is estimated by the formula 24- .6(age). This formula assigns a 20-year-old player 12.0 remaining seasons, a 25-year-old player 9.0
remaining seasons, a 30-year-old player 6.0 remaining seasons, a 35-year-old player 3.0 remaining seasons. Any player who is still playing regularly is assumed to have at least 1.5 seasons remaining, regardless of his age.
3) Established Hit Level. For 1996, the established hit level would be found by adding 1993 hits, two times 1994 hits, and three times 1995 hits, and dividing by six. However, a player cannot have an established performance level that is less than three-fourths of his most recent performance; that is, a player who had 200 hits in 1995 cannot have an established hit level below 150.
4) Projected Remaining Hits. This is found by multiplying the second number (ears remaining) by the third (established hit level). Once you get the projected remaining hits, the chance of getting to the goal is figured by (projected remaining hits) divided by (need hits), minus .5. By this method, if your "need hits" and your "projected remaining hits" are the same, your chance of reaching the goal is 50 percent. If your projected remaining hits are 20 percent more than your need hits, the chance of reaching the goal is 70 percent.
Two special rules, and a note:
1) A player's chance of continuing to progress toward a goal cannot exceed .97 per year. (This rule prevents a player from figuring to have a 148 percent chance of reaching a goal.)
2) If a player's offensive winning percentage is below .500, his chance of continuing to progress toward the goal cannot exceed .75 per season. (That is, if a below-average hitter is two years away
from reaching a goal, his chance of reaching that goal cannot be shown as better than nine-sixteenths, or three-fourths times three-fourths, regardless of his age.)
3) For 1994 and 1995, we used projected stats based on a full season of play..

Fielding Percentage
(Putouts plus Assists) divided by (Putouts plus Assists plus Errors).

First Batter Efficiency
This statistic tells you the batting average allowed by a relief pitcher to the first batter he faces.

GDP per GDP Situation
A GDP situation exists any time there is a man on first with less than two outs. This statistic measures how often a player grounds into a double play in that situation.

Go-Ahead RBI
Any time a player drives in a run which gives his team the lead, he is credited with a go-ahead RBI.

Ground/Fly Ratio (Grd/Fly)
Simply a hitter's ground balls divided by his fly balls. All batted balls except line drives and bunts are included.

Hold
A Hold is credited any time a relief pitcher enters a game in a Save Situation (see definition below), records at least one out, and leaves the game never having relinquished the lead. Note: a pitcher cannot finish the game and receive credit for a Hold, nor can he earn a hold and a save.

Inherited Runner
Any runner(s) on base when a relief pitcher enters a game are considered "inherited" by that pitcher.

Isolated Power
Slugging Percentage minus Batting Average.

K/BB Ratio
Strikeouts divided by Walks.

Late & Close
A Late & Close situation meets the following requirements:
(1)the game is in the seventh inning or later, and
(2)the batting team is either leading by one run, tied, or has the potential tying run on base, at bat, or on deck.
Note: This situation is very similar to the characteristics of a Save Situation.

Leadoff On Base%
The On-Base Percentage of a player when batting first in the batting order.

No Decision (ND)
The result when a starter is credited with neither a win nor a loss.

OBP+SLUG
On-base percentage plus slugging percentage.

Offensive Winning Percentage (OWP)
The Winning Percentage a team of nine Fred McGriffs (or anybody) would compile against average pitching and defense. The formula:
(Runs Created per 27 outs) divided by the League average of runs scored per game. Square the result and divide it by (1+itself).

[Sox Fan on Cape]

Part II: Definitions and Terms ( continued )

On Base Percentage
(Hits plus Walks plus Hit by Pitcher) divided by (At Bats plus Walks plus Hit by Pitcher plus Sacrifice Flies).

Opponent Batting Average
Hits Allowed divided by (Batters Faced minus Walks minus Hit Batsmen minus Sacrifice Hits minus Sacrifice Flies minus Catcher's Interference).

Outfielder Hold Percentage
A statistic used to evaluate outfielders' throwing arms. "Hold Percentage" is computed by dividing extra bases taken (by baserunners) by the number of opportunities. For example, if a single is lined to center field with men on first and second, and one man scores while the other stops at second, that is one extra base taken on two opportunities, a 50.0 hold percentage.

PA*
The divisor for On Base Percentage: At Bats plus Walks plus Hit By Pitcher plus Sacrifice Flies; or Plate Appearances minus Sacrifice Hits and Times Reached Base on Defensive Interference.

PCS (Pitchers' Caught Stealing)
The number of runners officially counted as Caught Stealing where the initiator of the fielding play was the pitcher, not the catcher. Note: such plays are often referred to as pickoffs, but appear in official records as Caught Stealing. The most common pitcher caught stealing scenario is a 1-3-6 fielding play, where the runner is officially charged a Caught Stealing because he broke for second base. Pickoff (fielding play 1-3 being the most common) is not an official statistic.

Percentage of Pitches Taken
This tells you how often a player lets a pitch go by without swinging.

Percentage of Swings Put In Play
This tells you how often a player hits the ball into fair territory, or is retired on a foul-ball out, when he swings.

Pickoffs (Pk)
The number of times a runner was picked off base by a pitcher.

Pivot Percentage
The number of double plays turned by a second baseman as the pivot man, divided by the number of opportunities.

PkOf Throw/Runner
The number of pickoff throws made by a pitcher divided by the number of runners on first base.

Plate Appearances
At Bats plus Total Walks plus Hit By Pitcher plus Sacrifice Hits plus Sacrifice Flies plus Times Reached on Defensive Interference.

Power/Speed Number
A way to look at power and speed in one number. A player must score high in both areas to earn a high Power/Speed Number. The formula: (HR x SB x 2) divided by (HR + S.

Quality Start
Any start in which a pitcher works six or more innings while allowing three or fewer earned runs.

Quick Hooks and Slow Hooks
A Quick Hook is the removal of a pitcher who has pitched less than 6 innings and given up 3 runs or less. A Slow Hook occurs when a pitcher pitches more than 9 innings, or allows 7 or more runs, or
whose combined innings pitched and runs allowed totals 13 or more.

Range Factor
The number of Chances (Putouts plus Assists) times nine divided by the number of Defensive Innings Played. The average for a Regular Player at each position in 1998:
Second Base: 4.99 Left Field: 2.00
Third Base: 2.65 Center Field: 2.59
Shortstop: 4.60 Right Field: 2.10

Relief Points (Pts)
Wins plus saves minus losses

Run Support Per 9 IP
The number of runs scored by a pitcher's team while he was still in the game times nine divided by his Innings Pitched.

Runs Created
A way to combine a batter's total offensive contributions into one number. The formula:
(H + BB + HBP - CS - GIDP) times (Total Bases + .26(TBB - IBB + HBP) + .52(SH + SF + S) divided by (AB + TBB + HBP + SH + SF).

Runs/Times on Base
This is calculated by dividing Runs Scored by Times on Base

Save Percentage
Saves (SV) divided by Save Opportunities (OP).

Save Situation
A Relief Pitcher is in a Save Situation when upon entering the game with his club leading, he has the opportunity to be the finishing pitcher (and is not the winning pitcher of record at the time), and meets any one of the three following conditions:
(1) he has a lead of no more than three runs and has the opportunity to pitch for at least one inning, or
(2) he enters the game, regardless of the count, with the potential tying run either on base, at bat, or on deck; or
(3) he pitches three or more innings regardless of the lead and the official scorer credits him with a save.

SBA
Stolen-base attempts against a catcher

SB Success%
Stolen Bases divided by (Stolen Bases plus Caught Stealing).

Secondary Average
A way to look at a player's extra bases gained, independent of Batting Average. The formula: (Total Bases - Hits + TBB + S divided by At Bats.

Slow-A
Otherwise known as "Regular A," these full-season minor leagues contain less-experienced professional players. The Slow-A leagues are the Midwest League and South Atlantic League (Sally).

Slugging Percentage
Total Bases divided by At Bats.

Stolen Base Percentage Allowed
This figure indicates how successful opposing baserunners are when attempting a stolen base. It's stolen bases divided by stolen-base attempts.

Times on Base
Hits plus walks plus hit by pitch

Total Bases
Hits plus Doubles plus (2 times Triples) plus (3 times Home runs).

Win-Loss Percentage or Winning Percentage
Wins divided by (Wins plus Losses).

[Sox Fan on Cape]

Part III: Formulas and Definitions
PA = (AB + BB + HBP + SF + SH + defensive interference)
Total Bases = [H + 2B + (2 X 3 + (3 X HR)]
AVG = H/AB
OBP = (H + BB + HBP)/(AB + BB + HBP + SF)
SLG = TB/AB

Part IV: Breakdown Categories
Ahead/Behind in Count
For hitters, ahead in count includes 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 2-1 and 3-1.
Behind in count for hitters includes 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 and 2-2.
The opposite is true for pitchers.

Day/Night
Officially, night games in the National League are those that start after 5:00 pm, while night games in the AL begin after 6:00 pm. Therefore, a game at 5:30 in Yankee Stadium is a day game while one in Shea Stadium at the same time is a night game. We avoid this silliness by calling all games starting after 5:00pm night games.

First Pitch
Refers to the first pitch of a given at bat, and any walks listed here are intentional walks.

Grass/Turf
Grass is grass. Turf is artificial turf.

Groundball/Flyball Ratio
A hitter's stats against pitchers that induce mostly grounders or flies, respectively. If the ratio is less than 1.00, then he is a Flyball hitter. If it is greater than 1.50, he is a Groundball hitter. Anything else is classified as neutral. Same cutoffs apply for classifying pitchers. Anyone with less than 50 plate appearances is automatically neutral.

First Inning Pitched
Describes the result of the pitcher's work until he recorded three outs.

Inning 1-6 and Inning 7+
There refer to the actual innings in which a pitcher worked.

None On/Out
Refers to situation when there are no outs and the bases are empty (generally leadoff situations).

None On/Runners On
Describes the status of the baserunners

Number of Pitches
This section shows the results of balls put into play while his pitch count was in that range.

Pitcher/Batter Match-Ups
The following conditions must be met before a player is added to the list:
a) There must be greater than 10 plate appearances between the batter and the pitcher; and
b) Batters must have a .300 average against a pitcher to be considered a "Hits Best Against" candidate, and pitchers must limit hitters to under .250 to be listed under "Pitches Best Vs."
Thus, not all hitters will have five pitchers that qualify and not all pitchers will have five batters who qualify.

Scoring Position
At least one runner must be at either second or third base.

Vs. 1st Batter (Relief)
Describes what happened to the first batter a reliever faces.

Copyright 2000 STATS, Inc. All rights reserved.


[b]Source : http://www.baseballtips.com/glossary.html

[One Red Seat]

Some sabermetric stat terms from Baseball Prospectus that you may see used here:

EqA - Equivalent Average. A measure of total offensive value per out, with corrections for league offensive level, home park, and team pitching. EQA considers batting as well as baserunning, but not the value of a position player's defense. The EqA adjusted for all-time also has a correction for league difficulty. The scale is deliberately set to approximate that of batting average. League average EqA is always equal to .260. EqA is derived from Raw EqA, which is (H + TB + 1.5*(BB + HBP + SB ) + SH + SF) divided by (AB + BB + HBP + SH + SF + CS + SB ). REqA is then normalized to account for league difficulty and scale to create EqA.

EqR - Equivalent Runs; EQR = 5 * OUT * EQA^2.5. In the fielding charts, the estimated number of EqR he had at the plate while playing this position in the field. In Adjusted Standings, EqR refers to the total number of equivalent runs scored by the team.

VORP - Value Over Replacement Player. The number of runs contributed beyond what a replacement-level player at the same position would contribute if given the same percentage of team plate appearances. VORP scores do not consider the quality of a player's defense.

WARP1 - Wins Above Replacement Player, level 1. The number of wins this player contributed, above what a replacement level hitter, fielder, and pitcher would have done, with adjustments only for within the season.

WARP2 - Wins Above Replacement Player, with difficulty added into the mix.

WARP3 - WARP-2, expanded to 162 games to compensate for shortened seasons. Initially, I was just going to use (162/season length) as the multiplier, but this seemed to overexpand the very short seasons of the 19th century. I settled on using (162/scheduled games) ** (2/3). So Ross Barnes' 7.4 wins in 1873, a 55 game season, only gets extended to 15.2 WARP, instead of a straight-line adjustment of 21.8.

RARP - Runs Above Replacement, Position-adjusted. A statistic that compares a hitter's Equivalent Run total to that of a replacement-level player who makes the same number of outs and plays the same position. A "replacement level" player is one who has .736 times as many EqR as the average for the position; that corresponds to a .351 winning percentage. Used when fielding data is unavailable.

FRAA - Fielding Runs Above Average.

FRAR - Fielding Runs Above Replacement. The difference between an average player and a replacement player is determined by the number of plays that position is called on to make. That makes the value at each position variable over time. In the all-time adjustments, an average catcher is set to 39 runs above replacement per 162 games, first base to 10, second to 29, third to 22, short to 33, center field to 24, left and right to 14.

Rate - A way to look at the fielder's rate of production, equal to 100 plus the number of runs above or below average this fielder is per 100 games. A player with a rate of 110 is 10 runs above average per 100 games, a player with an 87 is 13 runs below average per 100 games, etc.

Rate2 - See Rate. Rate2 incorporates adjustments for league difficulty and normalizes defensive statistics over time.

Pythagorean Record - A modified form of Bill James' pythagorean formula. Instead of using a fixed exponent (2, 1.83), the "pythagenport" formula derives the exponent from the run environment - the more runs per game, the higher the exponent. The formula for the exponent was X = .45 + 1.5 * log10 ((rs+ra)/g), and then winning percentage is calculated as (rs^x)/(rs^x + ra^x). The formula has been tested for run environments between 4 and 40 runs per game, but breaks down below 4 rpg. The original article is here.

After further review, I (Clay) have come to the conclusion that the so-called Smyth/Patriot method, aka Pythagenpat, is a better fit. In that, X=((rs+ra)/g)^.285, although there is some wiggle room for disagreement in the exponent. Anyway, that equation is simpler, more elegant, and gets the better answer over a wider range of runs scored than Pythagenport, including the mandatory value of 1 at 1 rpg. Go here for more.

NOTE: The league average for runs per game [RPG=(RS+RA)/G] is usually around 9, so one can usually quickly use 10 as the runs per win (RPW) in analyzing how the run metrics (VORP, RARP, FRAA, etc.) affect wins. However, if you wish for a clearer picture, the RPW formula is as follows: RPW = 2*(R-RA)*(R^x + RA^x)/(R^x - RA^x). Where R is the average runs scored per game and RA is the average runs allowed per game.

For the complete BP glossary, click this link: BP.com

[Sox Fan on Cape]

One Red Seat, I appreciate it. I hope others will add to the list , especially Ahhchon .

[elsrbueno]

I don't know if this belongs here or not, if it doesn't I apologize ahead of time and please move it to the appropriate place.

From ESPN: Park factor:
Park Factor compares the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road.
A rate higher than 1.000 favors the hitter. Below 1.000 favors the pitcher.
PF = ((homeRS + homeRA)/(homeG)) / ((roadRS + roadRA)/(roadG))
* Teams with home games in multiple stadiums list aggregate Park Factors.

Here's the link. It also shows all of the different park factors around baseball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

[Sox Fan on Cape]

Originally Posted by elsrbueno

I don't know if this belongs here or not, if it doesn't I apologize ahead of time and please move it to the appropriate place.

From ESPN: Park factor:
Park Factor compares the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road.
A rate higher than 1.000 favors the hitter. Below 1.000 favors the pitcher.
PF = ((homeRS + homeRA)/(homeG)) / ((roadRS + roadRA)/(roadG))
* Teams with home games in multiple stadiums list aggregate Park Factors.

Here's the link. It also shows all of the different park factors around baseball.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/parkfactor

Yup, definately the right spot. Thanks

[NomahsHammSammich]

Jobber--"Melky Cabrera"

[One Red Seat]

Great, great stat for measuring true offensive contribution.....

WPA - Win Probability Added

Using data from the last 35 years, they have determined the probability of a team winning based on home/road, inning, outs, base runners, and score differential for every possible situation. The way this stat works is it measures how much each players' AB changes the probability. For example, when Youk leads the game off in Fenway (home team) the win probability is 0.591. If he singles, the win probability goes from .591 to .630, so he raised the win probability by .039. This is the first stat I've seen that truly measures the relative worth of each in game event.

Situational Win Probability can be found here: Win Expectancy Finder

WPA is here: Fan Graphs -- click on the teams button at the top of the page to see the stats for each player

It works for pitchers too. The final WPA sum is multiplied by 100 to make it a percentage.

[Gom]

That is a good stat ORS, I must admit.

I'm not such a fan of ball park stats though. I think it is too skewed towards the home park. I think a better true measure is the away stats, since it is much more variable. My opinion though.

[One Red Seat]

Originally Posted by Gom

That is a good stat ORS, I must admit.

I'm not such a fan of ball park stats though. I think it is too skewed towards the home park. I think a better true measure is the away stats, since it is much more variable. My opinion though.

It's not perfect. I forget the situations, but in some of the extreme examples, due to that situation not occurring regularly, a positive result actually reduces the WPA. For the most part though, I think it does a good job of measuring "clutch".

Newer stats adjust the home numbers for park factor. That's why I prefer OPS+ to OPS. OPS just gives you the raw number. OPS+ relates the number to the home park, the league played in, and the era.

[Fast Freddie]

Can you define a balk for me? That would be so lovely.

[yeszir]

Originally Posted by Fast Freddie

Can you define a balk for me? That would be so lovely.

Per Wikipedia:
A balk call requires a high degree of judgment by the umpire. Often, umpires take the intent of the pitcher and the effect of the questionable action into account when deciding whether to call a balk.

With a runner on base, it is a balk when the pitcher:

* switches his pitching stance from the windup position to the set position (or vice versa) without properly disengaging the rubber;
* when going from the stretch to the set position, fails to pitch;
* throws from the rubber to a base without stepping toward (gaining distance in the direction of) that base;
* throws from the rubber to a base where there is no runner and no possibility of a play;
* steps or feints from the rubber to first base without completing the throw;
* pitches a quick return pitch, that is, pitches with the intent to catch the batter off-guard;
* pitches or mimics a part of his pitching motion while not in contact with the rubber;
* drops the ball while on the rubber;
* after a feint or throw to a base from the rubber, fails to disengage the rubber before reengaging and pitching;
* after beginning to pitch, interrupts his pitching motion;
* begins to pitch while the catcher is out of the catcher's box when giving an intentional walk;
* while pitching, removes his pivot foot from the pitching rubber, except to pivot;
* inordinately delays the game;
* pitches while facing away from the batter;
* after bringing his hands together on the rubber, separates them except in making a pitch or a throw; or
* stands on or astride the rubber without the ball, or mimics a pitch without the ball

[Fast Freddie]

Originally Posted by yeszir

A balk call

If you say that too fast, it may sound like cock and balls.