Teema: Re: Intentional Base on Balls commonly known as an Intentional Walk
Tuesday: Yes, it is a fairly common tactic though the scenario you have outlined is not. As far as I know, only two batters have ever been intentionally walked with the bases loaded. Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth.
It is quite common for a team to walk any batter, not just a home run hitting power hitter, with a man on second or men on second and third, to set up force outs at the bases to prevent the lead runners from scoring or advancing on a ground ball in the infield. Of course the manager of the defense will take into consideration the score, the inning, who's scheduled to bat, who's available to pinch hit, and other factors when deciding to do this. It really backfires if the following batter gets a hit.
Teema: Re: Intentional Base on Balls commonly known as an Intentional Walk
Tuesday: That sounds like an Intentional Walk as you describe it. I doubt if the bases were loaded prior to the walk, but perhaps the walk loaded them up? As far as the rule that says if a walk is intentional or not, it doesn't change the fact that the batter has walked. There's no rule that prevents the pitching team from being able to intentionally walk a batter or not, so whether or not it looks deliberate or not doesn't matter. It's up to the pitching team to decide to pitch to the batter or not. Sometimes they'll not intentionally walk a batter, but pitch him very carefully and he gets a walk out of it because the pitcher wasn't able to catch the corners of the plate. The manager has already decided that if the batter gets walked that he has a back up plan. Kind of an unintentional intentional walk, so to speak.
(peida) Kui Sa tahad kedagi tema emakeeles tervitada, vaata meie Mängija Sõnastikku "veel keeltest" lingil lippude all. (pauloaguia) (näita kõiki vihjeid)