baseball statistics Baseball statistics include a variety of metrics used to evaluate player and team performance in the sport of baseball. Because the flow of a baseball game has natural breaks to it, and player activity is characteristically distinguishable ind ...

, Batters Faced (BF), also known as Total Batters Faced (TBF) or Batters Facing Pitcher (BFP) is the number of batters who made a

plate appearance 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 ha ...

before the

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("Pitch (baseball), pitches") the Baseball (ball), baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of out (baseball), retiring a batter (baseball), batter, ...

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).

Major league records

The major league record for batters faced in a career belongs to

Cy Young Denton True "Cy" Young (March 29, 1867 – November 4, 1955) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher. Born in Gilmore, Ohio, he worked on his family's farm as a youth before starting his professional baseball career. Young entered t ...

, who faced 29,565 batters between 1890 and 1911.

Will White William Henry White (October 11, 1854 – August 31, 1911) was an American professional baseball pitcher and player-manager from 1875 to 1889. He played all or parts of 10 seasons in Major League Baseball, primarily for the Cincinnati Reds (1876 ...

of the Cincinnati Reds holds the single season record; he faced 2,906 batters in 1879. The last pitcher to face 1,500 or more batters in a single season was

Wilbur Wood Wilbur Forrester Wood Jr. (born October 22, 1941) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. In a 17-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he pitched for the Boston Red Sox (1961–64), the Pittsburgh Pirates (1964–65), and the Ch ...

of the

1973 Chicago White Sox The 1973 Chicago White Sox season was the team's 73rd season in the major leagues, and its 74th season overall. They finished with a record 77–85, good enough for fifth place in the American League West, 17 games behind the first-place 1973 Oakl ...

. On May 1, 1920,

Leon Cadore Leon Joseph Cadore (November 20, 1891 – March 16, 1958) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1915 to 1924. Early life Born in Chicago, Illinois, Cadore was orphaned at 13 and went to live with his uncle, Joe Jean ...

of the

Brooklyn Robins The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brookl ...

faced 96 Boston Braves batters, an MLB single game record dating back to at least 1901. Oakland's Steve McCatty is the last pitcher to face 50 or more batters in a game. McCatty pitched to 51 batters in a 14-inning

complete game In baseball, a complete game (CG) is the act of a pitcher pitching an entire game without the benefit of a relief pitcher. A pitcher who meets this criterion will be credited with a complete game regardless of the number of innings played—pitche ...

loss to the Seattle Mariners on August 10, 1980.

Mike Myers Michael John Myers, (born May 25, 1963) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and filmmaker. His accolades include seven MTV Movie & TV Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2002, he was awarded a star on the Hollywood W ...

made 314 appearances in which he faced just one opposing batter per game, also a record.

No batters faced

It is possible for a pitcher to participate in a game without officially facing a batter. This can happen when a baserunner is picked off or

caught stealing In baseball, a runner is charged, and the fielders involved are credited, with a time caught stealing when the runner attempts to advance or lead off from one base to another without the ball being batted and then is tagged out by a fielder wh ...

to end either the inning or the game. For example, in a game between the

San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

and

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. The Phillies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East Division. Since 2004, the team's home stadium has ...

on August 4, 2016, San Francisco's

Sergio Romo Sergio Francisco Romo (born March 4, 1983) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Tampa Bay Rays, Miami Marlins, Minnesota Twins, Oakland ...

entered the game in the bottom of the 9th inning with the game tied and 2 out. Romo threw four pitches to Aaron Altherr before César Hernández was caught stealing second base to end the inning, after which Romo was replaced. The Giants went on to win the game in

extra innings Extra innings is the extension of a baseball or softball game in order to break a tie. Ordinarily, a baseball game consists of nine regulation innings (in softball and high school baseball games there are typically seven innings; in Little Lea ...

and Romo was the

winning pitcher Winning may refer to: * Victory Film * ''Winning'' (film), a 1969 movie starring Paul Newman * '' Winning: The Racing Life of Paul Newman'', a 2015 documentary by Adam Carolla and Nate Adams Music * ''Winning'', an album by Ten Foot Pole, 2022 ...

despite never officially facing a batter. 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 Lawrence King Yount (born February 15, 1950) is an American former professional baseball player. Yount is the only pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB) history to be credited with one pitching appearance without facing a batter. In his only m ...

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. 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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Batters faced Pitching statistics

Major league records

No batters faced

See also

References