Inbaseball, anout occurs when theumpire rules abatter orbaserunner out. When a batter or runner is out, they lose their ability to score arun and must return to the dugout until their next turn at bat. When three outs are recorded in ahalf-inning, the batting team's turn expires.
To signal an out, an umpire generally makes a fist with one hand, and then flexes that arm either upward, particularly on pop flies, or forward, particularly on routine plays at first base. Home plate umpires often use a "punch-out" motion to signal a calledstrikeout.
The most common ways batters or runners are put out are when:
The batterstrikes out (they make three batting mistakes, known asstrikes, without hitting the ball into fair territory);
The batterflies out (they hit the ball and it is caught before landing);
A baserunnerfails to return to their time-of-pitch base after a flyout occurs and a fielder with the ball touches the base (commonly known as "doubling off" or "doubling up", as this would constitute a double play);
a baserunner istagged out (they are touched by the ball, held in an opponent's hand, while not on a base);
a baserunner isforced out (an opponent with the ball reaches the base the runner is forced to advance to before the runner does).
with two strikes, the batterfoul tips a pitch directly back into the catcher's mitt, and the catcher holds the ball and does not drop it;[2][3]: 5.09(a)(2)
a preceding runner interferes with a fielder trying to complete a double play on the batter-runner;
Tag-related outs:
a fielder with alive ball in their possession touches first base ortags the batter-runner before the batter-runner reaches first base (except when the batter is awarded first base, such as on abase on balls)
the batter-runner does not return directly to first base after overrunning the bag and they are tagged with the ball by a fielder.
they hit an infield popup while theinfield fly rule applies;
a fielder intentionally drops a line drive with fewer than two outs in a force situation (man on first, men on first and second, men on first and third, bases loaded) in an attempt to create a double play;
Anybaserunner, other than the batter-runner, is out when:
they areforced out; that is, they fail to reach theirforce base before a fielder with a live ball touches that base;
a fielder catches a batted ball in flight, and subsequently, some fielder with a live ball in possession touches the runner'stime of pitch base before the runnerreturns to it (appeal play);
while they are attempting to reach home plate with fewer than two outs, the batter interferes with a fielder and such action hinders a potential tag out near home plate;
they are found to have committed a mockery of the game, for example, astolen base of first from the second; or
they are found to be an illegal substitute.
Any baserunner, including the batter-runner, is out when:
they are tagged out; that is, touched by a fielder's hand holding a live ball while in jeopardy, such as while not touching a base;
they stray more than three feet (0.9 meters) from their runningbaseline in attempting to avoid a tag;
they pass a base without touching it and a member of the defensive team properly executes alive ball appeal;
they pass a preceding runner who is not out;
they commitinterference, such as when they contact a fielder playing a batted ball, or when they contact a live batted ball before it passes a fielder other than the pitcher;
they are touched by a fair ball in fair territory before the ball has touched or passed an infielder. The ball is dead and no runner may score, nor runners advance, except runners forced to advance. EXCEPTION: If a runner is touching their base when touched by an infield fly, they are not out, although the batter is out;
they intentionally abandon their effort to run the bases after touching first base; or
they run the bases in reverse order in an attempt to confuse the defence or to make a travesty of the game.[3]: 5.09(b)(10)
Note: When a fielder makes a putout, they must maintain secure possession of the ball. The general exception is when a fielder loses possession of the ball because they attempt to throw it immediately after making the out.
In baseball statistics, each out must be credited to exactly one defensive player, namely the player who was the direct cause of the out. When referring to outs credited to a defensive player, the termputout is used. Example: a batter hits a fair ball that is fielded by the shortstop. The shortstop then throws the ball to the first baseman. The first baseman then steps on first base before the batter reaches it. For this play, only the first baseman is credited with a putout, while the shortstop is credited with anassist. For a strikeout, thecatcher is credited with a putout, because the batter is not out until the pitched ball is caught by the catcher. (If the catcher drops the third strike and has to throw the batter-runner out at the first base, the first baseman receives the putout while the catcher receives an assist.) When an out is recorded without a fielder's direct involvement, such as where a runner is hit by a batted ball, the fielder nearest to the action is usually credited with the putout.
Although pitchers seldom get credited with putouts, they are credited with their role in getting outs through various pitching statistics such asinnings pitched (a measure of the number of outs made by the pitcher, used in calculating theirERA) andstrikeouts.
