Baseball Terminology

First Baseman (1B)
 Left Fielder  (LF)

## Staff Positions

### **Head Coach**

The **head coach** (also called a senior coach) of a team are the people who are in charge of conditioning the athletics and coming up with the team's game plan. Head coaches are typically paid more than other coaches and other coaches like the assistant coach are subordinates of the head coach. In some sports, the head coach is also called the manager, however in *Cross Game*, the manager is separate from the head coach.

### **Assistant Coach**

The **assistant coach**, as their name suggest, assists the head coach in their duties in helping the team.

### **Manager**

**Managers** in *Cross Game* are shown to be the people on the team who help the players if they get injuries, provide water to the players, keep the equipment clean as well as washing the uniforms. They are also shown to be the assistant to the head coach.

In non *Cross Game* media, the head coach is also referred to as a manager, and does everything a head coach does

### **Umpire**

The **umpire** is an official who is in charge of the entire game. Standing behind the catcher on the baseball field, the umpire are the ones who determines if a pitch is a ball or strike. Umpires also carry extra baseballs in the case of any balls getting hit out of play. Like the catcher, the umpire is also in a position to be potentially hit by balls, bats and runners, so the umpires wear face mask and chest protectors. In the *Cross Game* series, the umpire is present but not given much focus.

All these terms and pitch types aren't necessarily used in the *Cross Game* series, but they are about baseball nonetheless.

## Terms

### **Ace**

An **ace** is the best pitchers on a team. Usually the starting pitchers are the ace pitchers.

### **Balk**

A **balk** is in illegal move in which the pitcher intended to deceive a runner pretending to pitch, when he doesn't intend to do so. The penalty in committing a balk is a runner gets to advance one base. Kou unintentionally commits a balk during the Doors/Beavers game.

### **Ball**

When a pitch goes outside the strike zone, it's a **ball**. Get 4 balls and it's an automatic walk to first. Pitchers may also intentionally throw 4 balls to walk a batter.

### **Batter's box**

The **batter's box** is where the batter stands when at bat. A left handed batter stands to the right in the batter box (the catcher's right, the pitcher's left) and a right handed batter stands to the left in the batter's box (the catcher's left, the pitcher's right)

### **Battery**

The **battery** on a baseball team is the combined team consisting of the pitcher and the catcher. A pitcher and catcher on the same team are also called "battery mates".

### **Batting order**

The order in which players on the offensive team take their turns at bat. Each batter on a team are assigned their number based on their skills at bat.

* **1st**: Called a lead off hitter: These batters are individual with a high on-base percentage, plate discipline, bat control, good speed, and the ability to steal bases. These batters are not typically hard hitters but need high base percentage (ability to make it to base) to set up for stronger hitters who come later in the line up.
* **2nd:** Called a contact hitter: These batters need to have the ability to bunt (lightly tapping the ball into play). Their goal is to get the lead off hitter into a scoring position.
* **3rd**: The third batter in the batting order is usually the best all around hitter on the team. These batters are not very fast, but they often have a high batting average. The job of these batters is to reach base for the clean up hitter. Sometimes the best sluggers on the team are 3rd batters.
* **4th**: Called a clean up hitter, the 4 batters are one of the most powerful sluggers on the team. The first, second and third batters are batters who have a high to decent base percentage so the clean up hitter can 'clean' the bases by driving the base runners home. That's where the name 'clean up hitter' is though to come from. The third and fourth batters are often switched as well.
* **5th:** The fifth hitter is usually another power hitter, but one who isn't quite as good as the cleanup hitter.
* **6th:**The sixth batter is something like a second leadoff hitter. If the team has a second player with leadoff-type skills, he'll often bat 6th.
* **7th:** The seventh batter is normally a spot for a batter who lacks the skills that would put him higher in the order.
* **8th**: The eighth batter is often viewed similarly to the seventh place hitter if a designated hitter is used.
* **9th**: The ninth batter is usually reserved for the pitcher. It can also be used as a second lead off spot.

Source for Batting Order Definitions: Here

### **Bunt**

A **bunt** is the act of lightly tapping the ball with the bat

* **Sacrificial Bunt**: A sacrificial bunt is a batter's act of bunting the ball before there are two outs. The reason for doing this is to allow a baserunner to advance another base.

### **Double**

A **double** (or double play) is when a batter hits a pitched ball and able to make it to second base without being called out by the umpire

### **Error**

An **error** is an act, in the judgment of the official scorer, of a fielder misplaying a ball in a manner that allows a batter or baserunner to advance one or more bases

### **Foul ball**

A **foul ball** is a ball that gets hit out of play.
The following can result in a foul ball

* A hit ball that lands on territory between home and first base or between home and third base
* Goes past first or third base on or over foul territory
* Lands on foul territory beyond first or third base
* While on or over foul territory, touches the person of an umpire or player, or any object foreign to the natural ground. By interpretation, a batted ball that touches a batter while in his batter's box is foul regardless of whether it is over foul territory.

**Foul territory** is the part of the playing field outside the first and third base lines extended to the fence and perpendicularly upwards

### **Grand slam**

A **grand slam** is home run with all bases loaded

### **Home run**

A **home run** is a hit pitch that allows the batter to make a complete circuit of the bases without stopping and score a run

### **Infield**

An **infielder** is a defensive player on a baseball team positioned at any of the four infield positions: first baseman, second baseman, third baseman and shortstop.

### **Inning**

An **inning** is the periods of play in baseball. The innings are split up (top of the inning and bottom of the inning) A team who plays offense at the top of the inning, is on defense at the bottom of the inning and vice versa

### **Mercy rule**

In competition sports, the **mercy rule** is invoked when one team reaches a large scoring lead over the other team resulting in the game ending earlier than scheduled. It's called the mercy rule because it spares further embarrassment for the losing team.

### **No hitter**

A **no-hitter** is when a team is unable to hit a single pitch in the entire nine innings of a game

### **Outfield**

An **outfielder** is a defensive player on a baseball team positioned at any of the three outfield positions: right fielder, left fielder and center fielder.

### **Retire**

* Retire the batter
* Retire the runner
* Retire the side

### **Runner**

A **runner** (also can be called base running) is a baseball player who is running from base to base. Base running is the act of running from base to base

### **Single**

A **single** is when a batter hits a pitched ball and able to make it to first base without being called out by the umpire

### **Strike**

A **strike** is when a batter swings at a pitched ball and misses, or misses any pitch that is in the strike zone.

### **Strike zone**

The **strike zone** is the volume of space above home plate that is between the batter's knees to his mid torso. A pitch must pass through the strike zone in order to be called a strike, regardless of whether the batter swings or not.

### **Triple**

A **triple** (or triple play) is when a batter hits a pitched ball and able to make it to third base without being called out by the umpire

## Pitch Types

### **Breaking ball**

A **breaking ball** is a curved ball that breaks speed

### **Change up**

A **change up** is a slow ball made to trick the batter into thinking it's a fast ball

### **Curve ball**

A **curve ball** is a type of pitch thrown with a characteristic grip and hand movement that imparts forward spin to the ball, causing it to dive as it approaches the plate. When thrown by the right hand, curve balls angle left, when thrown by the left hand, curve balls angle right.

### **Fast ball**

A **fast ball** is a ball pitched fast and straight. This is the most common type of pitch in baseball.

### **Fork ball**

Pitched between the index and middle finger, the **fork ball** is a slower and often grounded ball

### **Ground ball**

A **ground ball** A hit that bounces off or end up rolling on the infield.

### References

1. ↑ Head coach (Wikipedia)
2. ↑ Umpire (Source: Wikipedia)
3. ↑ Balk (Wikipedia)
4. ↑ Error (Wikipedia)
5. ↑ Wikipedia Foul Ball