Baseball Lingo
Over the years, the sports picked up tons of lingo, jargon, nicknames, slang and acronyms. This article will highlight a good handful of those terms that you may here and have not a clue what the heck they mean. Enjoy!
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12-6: A curveball
1-2-3 inning: When a team gets all three hitters out allowing no walks, errors or hits.
4 Bagger: A homerun. The player gets to run around the bases which are aka “bags”
5 Tool Player: This refers to a baseball player that can hit for power, a high average, has good speed to steal bases, can field his position well and has a strong throwing arm.
6-4-3 Double Play: Each position on the field is given a number. 1 is the pitcher, 2 is the catcher, 3 is the first basement, 4 is the second baseman, 5 is the third basemen, 6 is the shortstop, 7 is left field, 8 is center field and 9 is the right fielder. A 6-4-3 double play would mean short to second to first.
Airmailed: “He airmailed it” refers to a high throw over another players head.
Alley: The area between the outfielders. Also known as “the gap”.
Around the Horn: When players throw the ball around to each other after an out. This is only done when there are no runners on base. Traditionally, after a strikeout, the catcher will fire the ball down to third base to get it started. The purpose is to keep the players arms warm.
Ate Him Up: When a fielder has a problem fielding the ball. Usually on a bad hop.
Bag: A base.
Base Knock: A single.
Bases Juiced: Bases loaded.
Battery: This refers to the pitcher and the catcher.
Bazooka: This refers to a fielder with a strong throwing arm.
Bean Ball: When a pitcher hits a batter with the pitch.
Bender: A curveball.
Booted: Refers to a player who made an error in the field. “He booted it”.
Bottom Dropped Out: This refers to a sinking pitch that dives down as it comes to the hitter.
BP: Abbreviation for “batting practice”.
Brushback: A pitcher throwing a ball inside to a hitter to keep him off the plate.
Can of Corn: An easy fly ball caught by a fielder.
Changeup: A pitch that appears to be a fastball but is lesser in speed. The purpose of throwing a changeup is to keep the hitter off balance and mess with his timing.
Check Swing: When a player starts to swing but holds it back not crossing the plate.
Chin Music: A pitch that buzzes a players face. (Is near to)
Chopper: A ball hit into the dirt around home plate, usually high into the air.
Cookie: A below average pitch that is easy to hit.
Cup of Coffee: This refers to a minor league player coming up to the major league club for a short period and then being sent back down to the minors. He was up for “a cup of coffee”.
Dead Pull Hitter: A right handed hitter that always hits the ball to the left side of the field OR a left handed hitter that always hits the ball to the right side (1b side) of the field.
Deuces Wild: Announcers will sometimes bust this term out when a hitter has a 2-2 count and there are 2 outs. They might also emphasize this if the score is also 2-2.
Dig it Out: When a fielder catches a ball that bounced in the dirt in front of him.
Dinger: Home run.
Dish: Home plate.
Donut: Weight put on a bat for practice swings. Then when the hitter takes the donut off the bat, it helps with their bat speed.
Dribbler: When a hitter hits a slow bouncing ball in the infield.
Drilled: When a batter gets hit by a pitch.
ALSO WORTH CHECKING OUT: FAMOUS QUOTES FROM PLAYERS, MANAGERS AND ANNOUNCERS
Duck Snort: A blooper hit that goes over the infielders head but in front of the outfielder.
Ducks on the Pond: When a hitter is up with men on base. The runners on base are referred to as the ducks on the pond.
Dying Quail: A high fly ball that drops in front of an outfielder quickly.
Eephus Pitch: A high arching pitch that is very slow. Basically a lob. This is very rare for a pitcher to try.
Erased: This refers to a runner on base that gets out trying to advance. “He was erased”.
Fighting off a Pitch: When a hitter has 2 strikes on him and is trying to “stay alive” by fouling off a pitch.
Frozen Rope: A hard hit line drive.
Full Count: When a hitter has 3 balls and 2 strikes on him.
Gapper: When a player hits a ball in between two outfielders.
Golden Sombrero: A player striking out 4 times in a single game.
Good Eye: You will hear this said about a hitter who doesn’t swing at bad pitches and takes a lot of walks.
Goose Egg: When a team doesn’t score any runs in the game.
Get Him Early: When a team hits a pitcher hard early in the game.
Grand Salami: A bases loaded homerun.
Green Light: This refers to a runner who is allowed to attempt to steal a base whenever he wants without having to be given a sign from the coach. This can also be said about a hitter who has a 3 ball count and instead of trying to “work a walk” off the pitcher he is allowed to swing.
Gun: A player with a strong throwing arm. You may also hear somebody say the player has a bazooka or “he threw a seed”
Handcuffed: When a pitcher throws an inside pitch to a hitter and it causes a short-bunched up swing.
Heater: A fastball.
High Heat: A high fastball.
Hold: When a relief pitcher comes in while the team has a lead, gets at least one out and doesnt relinquish the lead.
Hook: This can be one of a few things. A hook is a nickname for a curve ball. It’s also a phrase used when a coach visits the mount with intent to replace the pitcher. “He has the hook with him”.
Hurler: A pitcher.
Immaculate Inning: When a pitcher strikes out the side on 9 consecutive pitches.
In the Dirt: Refers to a pitch that bounced before it got to the catcher.
Junk: “He throws a lof of junk” would refer to a pitcher who throws a bunch of non fastball pitchers. Examples may be a screwball, forkball, circle change, sinker, etc.
Live Arm: This refers to a pitcher who throws with excellent velocity.
Longball: A homerun.
Make up Call: When an umpire makes a bad call then later realizes it was a bad call. He then may issue a make up call on a future situation that was borderline to “make it up to a team”. You will of course never get an umpire to admit this!
Meat Ball: An easy to hit pitch right down the heart of the plate.
Mendoza Line: A .200 batting average. This was designated to players that hit around .200 after a mid seventies to early 80’s shortstop by the name of Mario Mendoza managed to stay in the big leagues all the while amassing only a .215 career batting average. Weak hitter.
Moon Shot: A high towering fly ball homerun.
Mop Up Pitcher: A pitcher who comes in to close out a game when the other team is up by a ton and has pretty much locked up the win. On rare occasions, a manager may let a position player pitch. Usually occurs when a team is down by 10 runs or more.
Murderer’s Row: A string of really good hitters in a batting order. Usually the 3-4-5-6 hole hitters.
Mustard: “He had some mustard on it” refers to a throw that was of high velocity.
North Paw: A right handed pitcher.
OBP: This stands for on base percentage. This stat includes walks.
Passed Ball: When a catcher misses a pitch that allows a baserunner to advance.
Payoff Pitch: When a pitcher has 3 balls and 2 strikes on a hitter.
Pick it Clean: To field a sharply hit ground ball without error.
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Pickle: A runner caught in a rundown.
Pickoff: The pitcher throws to a base where a runner is leading off and they get him out.
Pinch Hitter: A batter who hits for another batter.
Pitch Around a Hitter: Intentionally throwing bad pitches to a good hitter because you don’t want him to get a hit off of you.
Plate: The base at home. (1st, 2nd, 3rd and HOME)
Plunked: Getting hit by a pitch.
Pow Wow: When the manager, catcher, pitcher and infielders have a “meeting at the mound”.
Punch and Judy Hitter: A weak hitter that has no homerun power.
Punch Out: A strikeout.
Short Hop: When a player fields a ball that bounces low in front of them that has just bounced off the ground kinda fast.
Retire the Side: When a team gets 3 outs on another team.
Rifle: This refers to a strong throwing arm.
Ring him Up: This refers to an umpire calling strike three on a hitter.
RISP: Acronym for “Runners in Scoring Position”. A runner is in scoring position if he is on 2nd or 3rd base.
Room Service: When a ball is hit right to an fielder where he barely has to move to catch it.
Round Robin: One of the rarest feats in baseball… When an outfielder throws out a runner at every base including home plate.
Round Tripper: A homerun.
Rubber Arm: A pitcher who’s arm doesn’t get tired despite throwing a ton of pitches.
Rubber Game: Most MLB games are played in a 3 game series. If each team has a win, the 3rd game would be dubbed “the rubber game of the series”.
Runners at the Corners: This would mean runners are on 1st base and 3rd base.
Runners in Scoring Position: This would mean runners are on 2nd or 3rd base or both. This is called scoring position because theoretically a runner can USUALLY score on a hit from 2nd base.
Ruthian Blast: A long homerun which is named after the legend Babe Ruth, who was known for hitting very long homeruns.
Second Sacker: 2nd baseman.
Sent Down: This refers to a major league player who was demoted to the minor league. (Often times AAA)
Setup Man: A pitcher who comes in for the 8th inning when a team has a lead. He “sets the table” for the closer.
Shelled: this refers to a pitcher who gave up a bunch of hits, often times line drives and solid hits. “He got shelled”.
Short Hop: A ball that comes to a fielder and bounces right in front of his glove in turn bouncing up quickly.
Shutout: A team being shutout means they didn’t score ANY runs.
Sitting on a Pitch: When a hitter is looking for a certain pitch and waiting to swing until he sees it coming. This often times refers to a hitter waiting for a fastball on a 3-0 pitch. (3 balls no strikes)
Skipper: A team’s manager.
Stick: A bat.
Slap Hitter: Singles hitter with little to no power.
Slump: When a player isn’t doing very well for a prolonged period of time.
Small Ball: When a team scores runs using it’s speed as it’s main source of run scoring. An example would be a guy bunts for a hit, steals second, the next hitter bunts (sacrafices) him over to 3rd and he scores on a passed ball.
Snow Cone Grab: When a fielder catches a ball very high in his mitts webbing and the ball is sticking out of the top of his glove appearing to be like a snow cone.
Smoke: A pitcher who throws hard with high velocity.
South Paw: Somebody that throws left handed.
Spray Hitter: A hitter with the ability to hit the ball to all fields. These are usually non power hitting players.
Squibber: A ball that trickles slowly in the infield after it was hit.
Staying Alive: A batter who fouls off pitch after pitch not striking out.
Stay on Top: For a hitter this means not getting underneath the ball causing a pop-up. For a pitcher, this means pitching with proper form, “coming over the top” as opposed to throwing 3/4 or side arm.
Stranded Runners: Runners left on base after a team gets 3 outs in an inning.
Strike’em Out Throw’em Out Double Play: When a hitter strikes out and a runner is caught trying to steal on the same play.
Strike out the Side: When a pitcher strikes out all three hitters in an inning.
Struck Out Looking: When a hitter is called out on strike 3 without swinging.
Submarine Pitcher A very low sidearm motion when pitching where the arm motion is below the pitchers waist line. The most famous “submariner” was Dan Quisenberry
Sweep: When a team wins all three games of a series vs. another team.
Take Something off the Pitch: This refers to a pitch that is thrown slower than a pitcher’s normal velocity. The purpose is to keep the hitter off balance not knowing what to expect.
Take the Bat out of His Hands: This is said when a team intentionally walks a player.
Tape Measure Shot: A very long homerun.
Tater: Homerun.
Tattoo: You might hear someobdy say “he tattoed it!”. This means a hitter hit a ball exceptionally hard.
Telegraphing Pitches: When a pitcher gives away to the hitter what he’s going to throw.
Toe the Slab: This is when a pitcher steps on the rubber on the mound.
The Cycle: When a player hits a single, double, triple and homerun all in the same game. He hit for “the cycle”.
The Hill: The pitchers mound.
The Hole: The spot in between the shortstop and third base. You may here an announcer say “he hit one in the hole”.
The Hot Corner: This refers to third base. The reason it’s called “the hot corner” is because when a right handed batter pulls a ball that goes from home plate to third base, it often times comes very hard towards the third basemen. It could be said that it’s a right handed batters natural power alley.
The Letters: When a pitch comes across the plate at chest level.
Top of the Inning: The first part of an inning when the road team is due up to bat.
Touched Up: When a pitcher gets hit hard and gives up a bunch of runs.
Tough Out: A hitter who doesn’t strike out much. This type of hitter usually sees a lot of pitches, goes deep into counts, is content with taking a walk and fouls off a ton of pitches forcing a pitcher to work hard and increase the pitcher’s pitch count.
Turn Two: Double play.
Twin Killing: Double play.
Upstairs: A high pitch.
Up the Middle: The area between the shortstop and second baseman. You’ll often times hear an announcer say “He hit it up the middle.”
Walk Off: A hit that wins the game in the bottom of an inning.
Warning Track: Dirt or gravel area before the wall. This let’s warns outfielders that their just about to crash into the wall, warning them.
Waste a Pitch: When a pitcher is up in the count no balls and two strikes or one ball and two strikes, he may “waste” a pitch on the hitter. This means throwing something unhittable with hopes that the batter will swing and strike out.
Wheelhouse: A hitters power zone.
Wheels: You may hear somebody refer to a player as “having wheels”. This means the player is exceptionally fast.
Whiff: A swing and a miss.
White Wash: A team whitewash’s a team when they don’t allow them to score any runs.
Worm Burner: A throw that hits the ground before reaching it’s target.
Yard: This can refer to a ballpark OR if a person says “he went yard” that means the player hit a homerun.
You’re in the Hole: The batter due up after the hitter on deck.
Uncle Charlie: A curveball.
Zip: A player with “zip” is one who can throw the ball hard. “He had some zip on it”.
Slugging Percentage: (SLG) A measure of the batting productivity of a hitter. The calculation is done by adding up the total bases of a hitter and dividing that by their number of at bats.
