What is it called when a hitter swings on the third strike, the catcher drops the ball, and they make it to first base (safe)?
Does the pitcher get the strike out?
Does the hitter get a base hit?
MtM
It’'s called stealing first base.
Yes, the pitcher gets the strikeout.
The batter gets a steal.
You can’t steal first.
The play is recorded as a strikeout for the pitcher (and the batter) and he reaches first on either a wild pitch, a passed ball, or an error (if the catcher throws it away or the first baseman drops the throw).
Wow quick response!
Thanks, that’s exactly what I wanted to know.
MtM
For timeliness, look back no further than the play by play of yesterday’s Braves-Brewers game.
Specifically, in the bottom of the 8th, you will see the following play occur:
“-M Giles struck out swinging, M Giles safe at first on wild pitch by M Dejean.”
A interesting outcome of this is that it is possible to get more than three strikeouts in an inning. Here’s a bit of trivia for you: Although a pitcher getting four strikeouts in a single inning has only happened 42 times in the history of major league baseball (If I can count correctly), Chuck Finley accomplished the feat twice in one season and three times in less than one calandar year!
(I love baseball-almanac.com)
And before anyone asks, I don’t believe that anyone has ever gotten five strikeouts in an inning.
The count is 2-2. What if the pitcher bounces one to the plate, an abvious ball, but the heads up batter decides to swing anyway thinking that the catcher isn`t going to field the “third strike” (which would have been a ball) because of the wildness of the pitch. The catcher has to chase the ball and the batter runs to first.
Would that work?
Ron Neccai (of the infamous 1952 Pirates) once struck out 27 batters in a game in the minors. He did this despite retiring one batter on a ground ball. He was able to do this because one inning the catcher dropped the third strike, allowing Neccai to get four strikeouts that inning.
(BTW, if the catcher drops the third strike, he does not get a putout [as he ordinarily would for a strikeout]).
Zev Steinhardt
Whuckfistle, a smart batter woudn’t do that on purpose. Those catchers are very good at getting in front of pitches in the dirt and they would most likely be thrown out at first.
But yes, it would work.
It’s high school, but pitcher fans 5 in 1 inning.