Caught foul tip or foul ball

Situation

The count is already two strikes. The batter tips the pitch or fouls it off. The freeze is whether that pitch ended the at-bat.

What happens on the field

• A foul tip goes sharp and direct from the bat into the catcher's mitt and is legally caught. It is a strike, not a foul ball. At two strikes it is a swinging strikeout, and the catcher gets the putout. The ball stays live, so runners may try to advance.
• A foul ball, or a tip the catcher does not catch, does not become strike three when the count is already two strikes. The batter stays up.

Baseball and fastpitch books share this definition. If the umpire calls it a foul ball, record a foul.

How the book should look

• Caught foul tip at two strikes: strikeout swinging, catcher putout. It is not a fly out.
• Foul at two strikes: no out. The count stays at two strikes.

A common miss is tapping Foul for a caught tip, which leaves the batter at the plate.

In DugoutDesk

1. For a caught tip, open Pitch menu and tap Foul tip (caught). That pitch is always a strike. At two strikes it ends the at-bat as a swinging strikeout.
2. For anything that is not a caught tip, tap Foul on the pitch pad. At two strikes it does not add a third strike.

Pitch-by-pitch scoring is free. Hit spray is coach premium and does not apply to a foul or a foul tip.