{{Short description|Baseball terminology}} {{Redirect|Backwards K|the character Ʞ|Back-released click|the character ꓘ|Fraser script}} In baseball or softball,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ramblinwreck.com/jackets-squeeze-two-acc-wins-out-of-friday-double-header-against-the-orange-2/|title=Saturday Sees Tech Drop Final Game of the Series Against Syracuse|publisher=Georgia Tech Yellowjackets|date=April 5, 2025|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref> a '''strikeout looking''' is a strikeout in which a batter, having incurred two strikes already, does not swing on their third strike called by the umpire — meaning the batter does not attempt to hit a pitch called as being within the strike zone. In scorekeeping, strikeouts are a statistic often denoted by the letter "'''K'''", with strikeouts looking being sometimes denoted by a reversed K ("'''Ʞ'''").<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Baccellieri|first=Emma|url=https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/03/09/mlb-rule-changes-scorekeeping-new-quirks|title=MLB's Rule Changes Bring New Quirks to the Timeless Art of Scorekeeping|magazine=Sports Illustrated|date=March 9, 2023|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref> Though the pitcher records a strikeout looking, it can also be said that the batter was "'''caught looking'''" when struck out in this manner.<ref>{{cite web|last=Castrovince|first=Anthony|url=https://www.mlb.com/news/best-baseball-slang-terms|title=From ace to yakker, a glossary of baseball slang|work=MLB.com|date=July 6, 2019|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref>
==History and analysis== In baseball, a pitcher pitches the ball at the batter. The pitch results in a strike if the batter swings at the ball or otherwise attempts to hit the pitch with their bat but fails to do so. A third strike results in a strikeout. If the batter hits the pitch into foul territory, this is also a strike, unless the batter has two strikes. Finally, a "called strike" results when the batter does not swing at the pitch, but the umpire determines that the ball passed through the strike zone, referring to the volume of space above home plate with a height rising from the batter's knees to the midpoint of their torso. A strikeout from a called third strike is a "strikeout looking".
The letter "'''K'''" was chosen to denote strikeouts by baseball writer Henry Chadwick, who first used it in 1859 in his box scores, which he is also credited with creating.<ref name=Augustyn/><ref name=Longview>{{cite web|url=https://www.news-journal.com/features/answer_line/answer-line-baseballs-backwards-k-a-mystery/article_1e0d1686-32d0-11e8-a41a-139415684537.html|title= Answer Line: Baseball's backwards K a mystery |work=Longview News-Journal|date=March 30, 2020|orig-date=March 28, 2018|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref> Chadwick had already chosen "'''S'''" to denote a sacrifice in his scorekeeping, so he opted to use "K", as it was the final letter in "struck", which was the common way to refer to a batter being out after three strikes.<ref name=Augustyn>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Augustyn|first=Adam|url=https://www.britannica.com/story/why-does-k-stand-for-a-strikeout-in-baseball|title=Why Does "K" Stand for a Strikeout in Baseball?|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|date=September 21, 2016|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=DiFranza|first=Lenny|url=https://baseballhall.org/discover-more/stories/short-stops/k-as-in-cain|title="K" as in Cain|publisher=National Baseball Hall of Fame|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref> Speaking to the ''Longview News-Journal'', Cassidy Lent, a National Baseball Hall of Fame reference librarian, shared that the Hall of Fame knows of no single person who can be credited with first using the "Ʞ" to denote a strikeout looking.<ref name=Longview/> Lent added that "this might have to do with the fact that there are several different ways to record strikeouts", as not all scorekeepers use the backwards K, "and it probably did just evolve with scorekeeping".<ref name=Longview/> [[File:Johnson strikes out looking to tie a franchise record. (8049292135).jpg|thumb|Toronto Blue Jays second baseman Kelly Johnson strikes out looking in October 2012 to tie Toronto's franchise record for strikeouts.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://calgary.citynews.ca/2012/10/02/kelly-johnson-homers-as-toronto-blue-jays-beat-minnesota-twins-4-3/|title=Kelly Johnson homers as Toronto Blue Jays beat Minnesota Twins 4-3|work=CityNews|date=October 2, 2012|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref>]] In 2013, CBS Sports writer Matt Snyder examined Major League Baseball (MLB)'s pitchers with the most strikeouts looking that season. Snyder wrote that pitchers who possessed "great command" or "great stuff" were likely to be on the list; he described the former as pitchers who were able to "[hit] a spot low and outside that barely registers as a strike", with the latter being the skill to "fool the hitter into taking an obvious strike".<ref name=Snyder>{{cite web|last=Snyder|first=Matt|url=https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/leaderboarding-artists-of-the-looking-strikeout/|title= Leaderboarding: Artists of the looking strikeout |work=CBS Sports|date=November 23, 2013|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref> Writing for MLB.com about the ways to cause an out, Chris Landers wrote that "it takes something truly special to cause a Major League hitter—a man who has dedicated his entire life to swinging a bat—to let strike three sail on by".<ref>{{cite web|last=Landers|first=Chris|url=https://www.mlb.com/cut4/ranking-every-kind-of-baseball-out-c284672554|title=Every way to make an out, ranked|work=Cut4|publisher=MLB.com|date=July 10, 2018|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref>
In 2021, ESPN writer Tim Kurkjian wrote that strikeouts looking had increased, detailing that in previous eras, "hitters wanted to put the ball in play as much as the pitchers wanted them to put it in play. Today, hitters wait and wait and wait for that one pitch they can drive".<ref name=Kurkjian/> Kurkjian added that, "in 2004, Adam Dunn struck out looking 66 times, which was more times than Ted Williams struck out in any season, looking or swinging. In 2018, the White Sox's Yoan Moncada struck out looking 85 times.<ref name=Kurkjian>{{cite web|last=Kurkjian|first=Tim|author-link=Tim Kurkjian|url=https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/31454952/how-k-became-most-destructive-letter-major-league-baseball|title=How the 'K' became the most destructive letter in Major League Baseball|publisher=ESPN|date=March 19, 2021|accessdate=June 13, 2025}}</ref>
==See also== *Glossary of baseball terms
==References== {{reflist|30em}} {{Portal bar|Baseball}} {{Baseball statistics}} Category:Batting statistics Category:Pitching (baseball) Category:Pitching statistics