Intentional ball

In baseball, an intentional base on balls, usually referred to as an intentional walk and denoted in baseball scorekeeping by IBB, is a walk issued to a batter by a pitcher with the intent of removing the batter's opportunity to swing at the pitched ball. A pitch that is intentionally thrown far outside the strike zone for this purpose is referred to as an intentional ball.

Beginning with the 2017 season, Major League Baseball has removed the requirement to throw four intentional balls. There, in amateur baseball such as high school and college baseball, and in most levels of Little League Baseball, the manager of the team in the field now simply asks the plate umpire to let the batter go to first base.

The purpose of an intentional walk is to bypass the current batter in order to face the following batter, whom the defensive team expects to be easier to put out. The penalty under the rules is that the current batter becomes a baserunner which, on average, makes it more likely that the team at bat will score.

Situations that call for the intentional walk include the following:

The intentional walk disfavors a team that has one batter who is much better than the others, as it often lets opponents "take the bat out of his hands" and opt to pitch to the next batter.

An intentional base on balls — whether achieved through intentional balls or through declaration — has the effect of any other base on balls. The batter is entitled to take first base without being put out. Any runner already on first base is awarded second base, and so on; if the bases are loaded, an intentional base on balls results in the scoring of a run.

Statistically, receiving an intentional base on balls does not count as an official at bat for a batter, but does count as a plate appearance and a base on balls. An intentional ball is counted as a ball in the count of the pitcher's balls and strikes thrown.

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