Inbaseball statistics,Batters Faced (BF), also known asTotal Batters Faced (TBF) orBatters Facing Pitcher (BFP)[1] is the number ofbatters who made aplate appearance before thepitcher in a game or in a season.
For a given game, the number of plate appearances for an offense is 3×(Innings) + (Runs scored) + (Runners left on base).
The major league record for batters faced in a career belongs toCy Young, who faced 29,565 batters between 1890 and 1911.[2]Will White of the Cincinnati Reds holds the single season record; he faced 2,906 batters in 1879.[3] The last pitcher to face 1,500 or more batters in a single season wasWilbur Wood of the1973 Chicago White Sox.[4]
On May 1, 1920,Leon Cadore of theBrooklyn Robins faced 96 Boston Braves batters, an MLB single game record dating back to at least 1901.[5] Oakland'sSteve McCatty is the last pitcher to face 50 or more batters in a game. McCatty pitched to 51 batters in a 14-inningcomplete game loss to the Seattle Mariners on August 10, 1980.[6]
Mike Myers made 314 appearances in which he faced just one opposing batter per game, also a record.[7]
It is possible for a pitcher to participate in a game without officially facing a batter. This can happen when a baserunner ispicked off orcaught stealing to end either the inning or the game. For example, in a game between theSan Francisco Giants andPhiladelphia Phillies on August 4, 2016, San Francisco'sSergio Romo entered the game in the bottom of the 9th inning with the game tied and 2 out. Romo threw four pitches toAaron Altherr beforeCésar Hernández was caught stealing second base to end the inning, after which Romo was replaced. The Giants went on to win the game inextra innings and Romo was thewinning pitcher despite never officially facing a batter.[8]
A pitcher could also not record a batter faced if he gets injured and has to be replaced before the completion of a plate appearance.Larry Yount holds the distinction of being the only pitcher in major league history to appear in the record books without ever having officially faced a batter.[9] In Yount's case this was also true in a literal sense as he was injured while throwing a warm-up pitch on his debut and never entered the game, but was credited with doing so due to having already been announced.[10]