Working counts

[Tralfaz]

Please excuse my ignorance, but I have a question about hitters counts vs pitchers counts.  Obviously 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 are pitchers counts and 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, ect are hitters counts.  So, when a count goes even  at 1-1, is that like starting over with the pitcher trying to get a strike, making it a hitters count, or what is the mind set exactly there on both ends?  Conversely, when it goes even at 2-2, is that still a pitchers count because he has a pitch to waste? 

[Noe]

Please excuse my ignorance, but I have a question about hitters counts vs pitchers counts.  Obviously 0-1, 0-2, 1-2 are pitchers counts and 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, ect are hitters counts.  So, when a count goes even  at 1-1, is that like starting over with the pitcher trying to get a strike, making it a hitters count, or what is the mind set exactly there on both ends?  Conversely, when it goes even at 2-2, is that still a pitchers count because he has a pitch to waste? 

Who has the ball in their hand?  The pitcher, so there is never an even count, 0-0, 1-1 and 2-2 are still a pitchers advantage of sorts because they have the ball and the hitter has to react to the pitch.

[homer]

Conversely, when it goes even at 2-2, is that still a pitchers count because he has a pitch to waste? 

2-2 is a pitcher's count because the hitter has to protect with two strikes.

[JimR]

i agree with Noe--the even counts are pitchers' counts because he can throw anything, including off the plate.

[Noe]

Yup.  Baseball is the only sport where the *defense* initiates the play.  When a pitcher has the ball in his hands and he can throw *anything* he wants... it's a pitcher count!

[S.P. Rodriguez]

One of the many subtle, yet beautiful, aspects of baseball...

[VirtualBob]

Yup.  Baseball is the only sport where the *defense* initiates the play.  When a pitcher has the ball in his hands and he can throw *anything* he wants... it's a pitcher count!

Yep.  In fact, that was the hardest part for me about getting into cricket.  The bowler (i.e. pitcher) is *attacking* the wicket and the batsman is defending.  This results in the oddity that it is the defenders who are scoring runs (and they continue to score runs as long as they continue to successfully defend their wickets).  So to the extent that baseball owes part of its ancestry to cricket, the main difference is in the view of who is on offense and what is being defended.

[Mr. Happy]

As usual, Coach and Noe are correct. A thinking battery still has a big advantage in the even counts. A pitcher can come through with his out pitch, which is usually his best location/pitch, in an even count.

i agree with Noe--the even counts are pitchers' counts because he can throw anything, including off the plate.