Pi/ps
 

I'm prepared to feel extremely stupid, but I really have to ask...

On the results page under the box score, pitchers have a PI and PS total. I'd always assumed it was Pitches thrown and Strikes thrown.

However in a recent game that I simmed and am reading the results for, one of my relievers has the following statline:

IP 1.0 / H0 / R0 / ER 0 / BB 0 / K0 / HR 0 / PI 4 / PS 3

Now, if I'm right that it's pitches and strikes, he threw 4 pitches and three of them were strikes. If this is the case, how does he not have a K? He hasn't thrown enough pitches for the strikes to have been at different batters, and while we did have a hit batter in this game it wasn't from this guy.

And more importantly, how can he have pitched 1.0 innings if he only threw 4 pitches?

All the IPs of each pitcher add up to 9, so he did throw 1 complete inning (in which case why take him off? :o We did win, but...). So I'm guessing it means something else, but I can't think for the life of me what it might be and it's too short a search term to search for.

Edit: I've just noticed there's a separate line for Pitches-Strikes, but this is 4-3 too. It also says he faced 3 batters. So... what happened to the other two? They just gave up after seeing this guy in action and thought "nah, to hell with it..."? :p

I can only assume what must be happening is the game is considering a pitch a strike for the purposes of that stat even if the batter hit it (for a ground out, fly out, whatever.) So he throws 4 pitches, three of which retired a batter, and of the four three were in the strike zone? All I got on this one. :)

I believe that's how it's counted in real life, too. If the batter makes contact, the pitch counts as a strike.

Game log?

For what it's worth, I double checked a game log of my own, and yes, balls put into play (even if they aren't outs) are considered strikes.

Like I said, I could be wrong, but I do believe that's how it works in real life, too.

PI = pitches thrown

PS= pitches thrown for strikes - all that means is they were in the strike zone - not necessarily a strike on the batter

So there are effectively two phenomenae both called "strikes?"

1. Throwing a pitch that an Umpire deems to have been in the strike zone and which gets counted by the PS stat.

2. Throwing a pitch that gets counted as a strike against a player, either because:
a. he swings at it and misses, or
b. he bunts it and it goes foul

But in fact, if you throw a pitch that is NOT in the strike zone, and the batter swings at it and misses, it then becomes a strike (K), even though it wouldn't have been deemed a strike (PS)?!? :p

Pretty much. It's not an exact science. The best way to look at it is that there are two ways for a pitch to be counted as a strike when it comes to post-game totals: either it is a called strike by the umpire, or the batter swings at it.

Because whatever the outcome of the swing (a miss, a foul, an out, or a hit), it will be listed as a strike in the box score.

Yes contact counts as a strike. That's why strikes thrown is a little misleading. A pitcher who is ineffective may be confused as a strike thrower.

But, throwing pitches that are hard enough to hit that they will tend to NOT produce hits is another type of "pitcher effectiveness" right?

So in sum, there are three (well four, but "technically three?) possible outcomes for a pitch:

1. Ball = pitch deemed outside strike zone by ump and batter did not swing.

2. Strike = a range of possible events, including, batter swings and misses (at any pitch), batter foul tips the ball, batter hits the ball but gets thrown out at first (meaning the hit did not count as a "hit")?

3. Hit = batter's bat made contact with the pitch and propelled it somewhere into fair play area, and the batter was able to make it to 1st base (or farther) safely

Is that all accurate?

Amazing how complicated baseball rules really are, but I guess I'm doing pretty good to remember as much as I do having not had any real exposure to the game for decades :)

Have to admit though, that one about the 3 bunt foul being counted as a strike I had forgot till I let Nap Lajoie strike himself out that way :o