Strikeout—Wild Pitch

There are two strikes. The pitch comes in, the batter takes a big old swing, misses everything, but uh-oh, the ball has hit the dirt, and now the catcher is scrambling to find it. Why? Well, the key part is that the ball hit the dirt. If a third strike isn’t caught correctly, it’s known as a “uncaught third strike,” and it triggers one of baseball’s weirdest contingencies.

Basically, if the third strike isn’t caught cleanly— it’s either dropped by the catcher, or it bounces before it gets to the catcher— and if first base is empty¹, the batter who just struck out has the option of running to first. Yes, even though they struck out. If the catcher can retrieve the ball and either tag the batter, or if they can throw the ball to first base before the batter gets there, then the strikeout is “completed,” and the batter is out. If they can’t do that, the batter gets to take first base, and the out doesn’t count². In addition to the strikeout, the pitcher is charged with a wild pitch. If the batter leaves home plate without trying to run, they are automatically declared out.

In practice, only a small percentage of uncaught third-strikes wind up as wild pitches, as batters often won’t realize that the pitch they just swung at bounced. Also often, catchers get the ball under control almost immediately, and can just tag the batter before the batter has a chance to run. Even when the batter does run, it is very infrequent for there to be a close play at first base.

If you’re curious as to why this is… well, it’s not really clear, but this is actually one of the oldest rules in baseball, as it was part of the “Knickerboker Rules,” a set of rules drafted in 1845. These rules, in turn, slowly morphed into the modern rules that we know today.