Out (baseball) in the context of "Fielding team (baseball)"

Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play beginning when a player on the fielding team, called the pitcher, throws a ball that a player on the batting team, called the batter, tries to hit with a bat. The objective of the offensive team (batting team) is to hit the ball into the field of play, away from the other team's players, allowing its players to run the bases, having them advance counter-clockwise around four bases to score what are called "runs". The objective of the defensive team (referred to as the fielding team) is to prevent batters from becoming runners, and to prevent runners advancing around the bases. A run is scored when a runner legally advances around the bases in order and touches home plate (the place where the player started as a batter).

The initial objective of the batting team is to have a player reach first base safely; this occurs either when the batter hits the ball and reaches first base before an opponent retrieves the ball and touches the base, or when the pitcher persists in throwing the ball out of the batter's reach. Players on the batting team who reach first base without being called "out" can attempt to advance to subsequent bases as a runner, either immediately or during teammates' turns batting. The fielding team tries to prevent runs by using the ball to get batters or runners "out", which forces them out of the field of play. The pitcher can get the batter out by throwing three pitches which result in strikes, while fielders can get the batter out by catching a batted ball before it touches the ground, and can get a runner out by tagging them with the ball while the runner is not touching a base.

In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the defensive numbering system used in baseball, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting pitcher, relief pitcher, middle reliever, lefty specialist, setup man, and the closer.

Traditionally, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League and spreading to further leagues throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy. The National League adopted the designated hitter in 2022; as of 2025, the Japanese Central League is the highest level of competition to not use the designated hitter position.

In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted balls are met or assured. A player may score by hitting a home run or by any combination of plays that puts him safely "on base" (that is, on first, second, or third) as a runner and subsequently brings him home. Once a player has scored a run, they may not attempt to score another run until their next turn to bat. The object of the game is for a team to score more runs than its opponent.

The Official Baseball Rules hold that if the third out of an inning is a force out of a runner advancing to any base then, even if another baserunner crosses home plate before that force out is made, his run does not count. However, if the third out is not a force out, but a tag out, then if that other baserunner crosses home plate before that tag out is made, his run will count. In baseball statistics, a player who advances around all the bases to score is credited with a run (R), sometimes referred to as a "run scored". While runs scored is considered an important individual batting statistic, it is regarded as less significant than runs batted in (RBIs). Both individual runs scored and runs batted in are heavily context-dependent; however, the sabermetric statistic runs created provides a more sophisticated assessment of a player's contribution toward producing runs for his team.

In baseball, a baserunner is safe when he reaches a base without being put out by various ways. While a runner is touching a base, he is usually not in jeopardy of being put out, and is thus "safe" from fielders' actions, such as tags. The runner is in jeopardy once again, negating this safety, when:

• he ceases touching the base
• he is forced to reach another base on a force play or when tagging up
• a runner further along the basepath legally returns to the base that he is touching (two runners on the same base)
• he commits interference.

By the rules, a runner is safe when he is entitled to the base he is trying for. Umpires will signal that a runner is safe by extending their elbows to their sides and then extending their arms fully to the side. For emphasis, an umpire may fully cross and extend his arms several times to indicate safe. Verbally, the umpire will usually simply say "safe". If a close play occurs that may have appeared to be a putout, the umpire will also call a reason for the safe call, such as "he dropped the ball" or "he missed the tag".

A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk,occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls balls, and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08(a). Despite being known as a "walk", it is considered a faux pas for a professional player to actually walk to first base; the batter-runner and any advancing runners normally jog on such a play.

The term "base on balls" distinguishes a walk from the other manners in which a batter can be awarded first base without liability to be put out (e.g., hit by pitch (HBP), catcher's interference). Though a base on balls, catcher's interference, or a batter hit by a pitched ball all result in the batter (and possibly runners on base) being awarded a base, the term "walk" usually refers only to a base on balls, and not the other methods of reaching base without the bat touching the ball. An important difference is that for a hit batter or catcher's interference, the ball is dead and no one may advance unless forced; the ball is live after a walk (see below for details).

In baseball and softball, a tag out, sometimes just called a tag, is a play in which a baserunner is out because a fielder touches him with the ball or with the hand or glove holding the ball, while the ball is live and the runner is in jeopardy of being put out (usually when he is not touching a base).

A baserunner is in jeopardy when any of the following are true:

In baseball, a player is credited with a plate appearance (denoted by PA) each time he completes a turn batting. Under Rule 5.04(c) of the Official Baseball Rules, a player completes a turn batting when he is put out or becomes a runner. This happens when he strikes out or is declared out before reaching first base; or when he reaches first base safely or is awarded first base (by a base on balls, hit by pitch, catcher's interference, or obstruction); or when he hits a fair ball which causes a preceding runner to be put out for the third out before he himself is put out or reaches first base safely (see also left on base, fielder's choice, force play). A very similar baseball statistic, at bats, counts a subset of plate appearances that end under certain circumstances.