 If you are just learning how to play baseball one of the first things that you'll probably learn is that three strikes is an Out called a strikeout, but lots of rules in baseball have an exception to them And the strikeout rule is no exception because of this It's actually possible for a batter to strike out but to not be out allowing him to become a runner and potentially reach base So we know that typically if a batter has thrown three strikes then this is a strikeout He's out the lesser known part of this which has actually been a rule ever since way back in the 1800s And they started to write this stuff down and formalize the rules is that the third strike must be caught by the catcher in order to complete the strikeout in addition to that one of two Stipulations must be met in order to allow or batter the chance to run after the catcher has botched the third strike Which by the way does not have to be a swinging strike Although almost always seems to be for reasons we'll get to in a second The first is that there is no runner on first base and the second would be if there are two outs Then it doesn't matter if someone's on first base. It's a free-for-all So let's say first base is unoccupied our batter swings and misses at the third strike But it bounces off the catcher's glove This doesn't guarantee that the batter gets to go to first base It just means that he is not out yet and he has become a runner Because of this he can still be put out in a few ways Typically if the ball doesn't bounce too far the catcher can pick it up and just tag him out before he can get away Or because there is now a force play at first the defense can throw him out of first base But if the batter manages to beat them to first base then he is now on first base and is a runner The rule makes it clear that the pitch must be legally caught by the catcher in order to count So if something crazy happens like the pitch comes in the batter swings and misses the catcher also misses it The ball bounces off the umpire up into the air and then the catcher catches it This is not a legally caught third strike and so the catcher then must tag him out or throw out the runner The unique thing about this situation is that even though it is not an out It is still recorded as a strikeout in terms of both the pitcher and the batter's statistics This is because the batter does not actually advance just on the strikeout, but on something else as well Almost always when this happens It's a batter swinging at a pitch that's way outside the strike zone that he probably should not have swung at and that the catcher Cannot get to which would mean that the batter would advance to first base on the strikeout and a wild pitch as they said though the batter does not necessarily have to swing at the pitch and A call strike would probably hit the catcher right in the chest if he missed it But catchers aren't perfect and so if it bounces off his glove Swinging or not the batter could advance to first on that strikeout and a pass ball He could also advance on an error if say the catcher throws the ball down to first that would clearly have beaten the runner But the first baseman drops it in this situation. It would be a strikeout in an error on the first baseman Another possibility would be if there's a runner on say second base and the third strike bounces away up the third baseline If the runner on second base tries to run the catcher may try to throw him out Conceding that the batter would advance to first base and thus no matter what happens a third base The batter would reach on a strikeout and a field of choice So you might question why can't someone be on first base? Why not just let the batter always run if the third strike is dropped? The reason for this part of the rule is similar to why the infield fly rule exists Basically, it's trying to prevent a quote-unquote cheap double play So if there is a runner on first base with one out the catcher could just always drop a third strike on purpose And then quickly turn a double play If you watch enough baseball sooner or later, you'll see a catcher drop a third strike But a batter who for whatever reason does not run Usually he's just upset with himself for striking out or he's slow And he knows he probably won't be able to beat the throw to first base Most of the time the defense will go through the motions of tagging him out or throwing the ball to first just to be Safe, but there is a rule that states that if a batter makes no attempt to run at all Then he has called out once he walks out of the dirt circle surrounding home plate This rule may not apply to all levels of play in many lower levels like little league a third strike means that the batter is out Whether it's caught or not But if this rule does apply it takes place when there is a missed third strike with nobody on first base Or if there are two outs then it doesn't matter if someone's on first and at this point our batter can run The defense can still get him out either by tagging him out or throwing him out of first or he might reach safely No matter what it's still technically a strikeout