Victoria Greco

3 min read

Baseball Slang 101

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America's favorite pastime comes with its own rules and order.

It also comes with its own language filled with slang and terminology to describe the game and player statistics.

The words you hear during a broadcast might all just sound like a bunch of nonsense and can be difficult to understand. It might prompt you to want to shut off the game on TV or dislike baseball entirely. But I believe that once you understand the basics of baseball lingo, it makes the experience of enjoying the game that much easier.

I remember when I watched baseball on TV for the first time. I felt like the rules were fairly easy to follow, but the language was where I got really confused. I asked my dad what "full-count" meant, and any new words that popped up during the broadcast. My dad was happy to help teach me the basics and soon enough I felt confident in watching the game, and my love for baseball grew.

Below I link a 5-minute video of the Yankees/Mets game on July 26th, 2022 that was posted by MLB. It is filled with baseball slang and terminology that you will likely hear during every game. I suggest watching the video first to get both a visual and auditory feel of how the broadcasters use the language.

Once the video is finished, follow the list and definitions of slang used in the video below.

Slang Used in the Title

Yanks start hot - Yankees(Yanks) begin the game well

Bronx bombers - A nickname for the Yankees

Blast off - Term for home runs

Back to back - Consecutive, one after the other

Subway series - A nickname for the few games played(series), played by teams New York Yankees and New York Mets.

Slang Used in the Video

Fouls off - When the batter hits the ball into foul territory (determined by location of the foul lines and foul poles)

Ribbys - A slang term for statistic "RBI" (plural, multiple RBI's)

.300 hitter - .300 refers to a players batting average statistic, players with a .300 average or higher is considered to be excellent at hitting

1 and 1 - When the batter is sitting at 1 ball (a pitch that is not a strike), and 1 strike

The bag - A base

The 2-1 - When the batter is sitting at 2 balls (two pitches that are not a strike), and 1 strike

Grounded foul - When the batter hits the ball into foul territory on the field (determined by location of the foul lines)

Outside strike - Any pitch that is outside of the strike zone that the hitter does swing at

Ball - Any pitch that is outside of the strike zone that the hitter does not swing at

Reference: The Strike Zone

Righties - A right-handed player

Big leagues - The highest league, the major leagues

3 and 2 - Also known as "full-count", meaning the batter sits at 3 balls and 2 strikes (4 balls to get on base, and 3 strikes to strike out).

High drive - A baseball hit in a straight line with a high angle

1-nothing Yankees - 1- nothing refers to the score, and whatever team follows is the leader (example: Yankees lead 1, Mets 0)

Deep - Term used when someone hits a homerun

Connects - The action of the ball "connecting" to the bat, the batter connects by having a 90-degree angle between their bat and spine when they start the swing