putout
Pluralputouts
- 1In baseball, a play in which a batter is put out.
The shortstop fielded the grounder cleanly and threw to first for the putout.
Her leaping catch at the fence turned a sure double into a putout.
Similarout
Note
Scorekeepers credit the out to the fielder who actually completes it: the one who catches the fly ball, steps on the base holding the ball, or tags the runner. A fielder who throws to that player earns an assist instead, and on a strikeout the catcher is credited. The noun closes up the verb phrase: fielders put a runner out, and the play is a putout.
- 2In baseball, the statistic that counts how many outs a defensive player has directly made.
The center fielder finished the year with a league-leading 380 putouts.
Scouts care less about his putout total than about how much ground he covers.
Note
In a fielder's record it sits beside assists and errors, and the three together yield the fielding percentage. Raw totals flatter some positions: first basemen and catchers finish so many routine plays that their counts run high, so a big number says more about where a player stands on the field than about how well they field.
Practice
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Origin
Formed as a noun from the phrasal verb put out.