Wild pitch
A wild pitch (WP) is an action in baseball or softball that is listed and evaluated in baseball statistics . A wild pitch is charged to the pitcher if he throws a pitch so high, so low or so far past home plate that the catcher cannot control the ball with normal effort and thereby enables one or more runners to advance.
The counterpart to the wild pitch is the passed ball , which is charged to the catcher. A passed ball is decided if the catcher fails to catch a pitch that can be caught with normal effort, thereby enabling one or more runners to advance. The official scorer alone decides what is to be regarded as normal effort , however limited by the definition in rule 2.00 of the baseball rulebook. It is therefore a factual decision by the Official Scorer that cannot be challenged.
A pitch that hits the ground before reaching home plate is always a wild pitch according to the rulebook. In case of doubt, a decision is made in favor of the catcher, i.e. a wild pitch tends to be decided. The batter can also get onto the base if the wild pitch or passed ball becomes the third strike.
Most of the time, the ball passes the catcher, so that it lands behind home plate in the backstop, giving the runners the opportunity to get to the next base. The catcher often simply blocks the pitch, but then has problems finding and picking up the ball quickly.
A wild pitch is only included in the statistics as such if one or more runners can advance one base. A wild pitch is not recorded as an error in the statistics .
Nolan Ryan leads the statistics of wild pitches in modern baseball. In 27 years in Major League Baseball , he threw 277 wild pitches. The all-time record belongs to Tony Mullane from the early baseball years. The player threw a total of 343 wild pitches between 1881 and 1894.
The players RA Dickey, Phil Niekro, Walter Johnson, and Kevin Gregg hold the record for the most special stages in an inning with four wild pitches.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Christian Posny, Sven Müncheberg: Rules Booklet Baseball - Revised 2007. German Baseball and Softball Association e. V. (ed.). 6. revised Edition. Meyer & Meyer Verlag, Aachen 2008, ISBN 978-3-89899-365-4 .