in baseball, what does it mean when they say threw that pitch to keep him honest?

Question

commentators say it all the time.. for ex tonights angels game, he said "threw the pitch outside to keep him honest."

Answer 1

Usually, to keep him honest, is a brushback pitch, inside.
Pitchers like to keep the player from crowding the plate, and to keep a player's elbows from extending too far, he'll go inside, to force him to step back a few steps.
Roger Clemens and Nolan Ryan are two good examples of this enforcement.
The other time this term has kept up, is when a pitcher goes to a 3-0 count, he'll usually throw something low and outside, to force a batter to swing, instead of giving a free pass, hence, making the batter stay honest, and not risk a free baserunner.
Bad side effect, is the guy clobbers a homerun, and you just lost the game.

Answer 2

When the pitcher throws an unexpected pitch to break up a pattern the pitcher might be developing. Batters cue into those patterns and will use it to guess and time what pitch is coming next. The pitcher throws the unexpected pitch to keep the batters guessing. For example, if a pitcher has been throwing first-pitch fastballs all night, he might suddenly throw a first-pitch change-up "just to keep the batters honest."

A good example of when a pitcher develops a pattern and the batters use it against him comes from the 1988 World Series. Dennis Eckersley had a habit of throwing a "backdoor slider" to batters on a 3-2 count. Kirk Gibson knew this when he had worked the count to 3-2. Eckersley did exactly what he normally did and Gibson hit one of the most memorable home runs in World Series history. If Eckersley hadn't developed that pattern, Gibson would have been kept "honest" and might never had hit that home run.

Answer 3

It has to do with the pitcher placing a ball over the plate at a specific area or place within the strike zone. Often batters will overcompensate protecting certain portions of the plate in hopes of having the pitcher throw a pitch in an area where it is to the batters best interest to have the ball placed. This is because he or she is the strongest in terms of hitting in this particular area, so if a pitcher throws a pitch that is in an area that is still within the legal strike zone but in an area where the batter is trying to protect so that he or she is trying to make a pitcher but the ball where they are most comfortable hitting it at, the pitch ends up being a strike and the batter can't swing at it since they were positioned for a pitch in another area. So by the pitcher placing the ball within the strike zone but in an area that the batter is trying to protect, it is said that the pitcher has placed a ball in an area to keep the batter honest. It will force the batter to re-adjust their positioning such that the entire strike zone is now more readily available to be swung at should a ball come in that area again rather than just in an area where the batter wants the ball to be placed. The batter is trying to set the pitcher up to throw them a pitch that they are most comfortable hitting not necessarily in an area in the strike zone that they may not be as strong in terms of hitting at. It is making the pitcher dictate where the ball is going to go within the strike zone rather than the batter being the one that forces the pitcher to put a ball in the strike zone where they are most comfortable hitting.

Answer 4

It's a pitch that keeps him guessing so the pitcher can go back inside without the batter necessarily expecting it.

The object is to throw off the batters balance, a batter in theory can only effectively cover pitches on the inner or outer half of the plate when looking for it.

Answer 5

to keep the batter from leaning over theplate trying to get hit by a pitch

Answer 6

Usually it means that a pitcher throws inside which unconsciously scares a hitter and causes him to guard against another inside pitch, throwing off his rhythm and batting stance.

Answer 7

They just trying to confuse you. HAHAHAHAHAHA