Editing Brushback pitch (section)

{{Short description|Type of baseball pitch}}
[[File:Brendan Ryan brush back.JPG|thumb|Seattle Mariners shortstop [[Brendan Ryan (baseball)|Brendan Ryan]] bends away from a brushback pitch from Oakland Athletics pitcher [[Tommy Milone]].]]
In [[baseball]], a '''brushback pitch''' is a [[pitch (baseball)|pitch]] (typically a [[fastball]]) thrown high and inside the [[strike zone]] to intimidate the [[Batter (baseball)|batter]] away from the plate on subsequent pitches.<ref name="brushbackdictionary">{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brushback|title=Brushback @ Dictionary.com|year=2006|publisher=Random House|access-date=2008-10-02}}</ref> It differs from the [[beanball]] in that the intent is not to [[Hit by pitch|hit the batter]], nor does it target the batter's head.<ref name="beanballprinceton">{{cite web|url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/beanball|title=Beanball @ Dictionary.com|year=2006|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=2008-10-02}}</ref> Hitters will often [[Glossary of baseball (C)#crowd the plate|crowd the plate]] in order to have a better swing at pitches on the outside half of the plate. The hitters hope that the pitcher will be scared to throw inside because they might hit the batter. The brushback helps a [[pitcher]] to "reclaim" the corners of the strike zone by forcing the batter to stand further away.

Play-by-play announcers sometimes call a high brushback pitch as being "high and tight". It is also referred to as [[chin music#Baseball|chin music]].

While the brushback can be an effective part of pitching, the home-plate umpire may warn or eject a pitcher if he feels they are intentionally trying to hit the batter.