Hit by pitch

From BR Bullpen

(Redirected from HBP)

A batter is Hit by pitch (abbreviated HBP), when he is hit by a pitched ball; the ball is dead and the batter is awarded first base. However, if the pitch was in the strike zone, if the batter swung, or if he made no effort to get out of the way, the umpire will call a strike (or a ball) and play continues. Effectively, a hit by pitch is the same as a walk except runners cannot advance past one base. The pitcher may be warned if the umpire considers the pitch to have been intentional (see bean ball).

Hit by pitch is a statistic for batters; for pitchers, it is called a "hit batsman".

All Time Leaders
Span Player Total Notes
Career Hughie Jennings 287
Career (since 1900) Craig Biggio 273
Season Hughie Jennings 51 1896
Game Many Players 3

Further Reading[edit]

  • Gary Belleville: "Ron Hunt, Coco Crisp, and the Normalization of Hit-by-Pitch Statistics", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Vol. 47, Nr. 2 (Fall 2018), pp. 32-39.
  • Jerry Nechal: "Were Pitchers More Likely to Throw at Black Batters? 1947-66", Baseball Research Journal, SABR, Volume 51, Number 2 (Fall 2022), pp. 52-55.
  • Steve Treder: "The HBP Explosion (That Almost Nobody Seems to Have Noticed)", The Hardball Times, January 30, 2007. [1]

Related Sites[edit]