Editing Intentional base on balls (section)

==Technique==
In leagues where a pitcher must throw balls to issue an intentional walk, the catcher signals the intent to walk the batter by standing up in the catcher's box and extending one arm straight to the side away from the batter. The pitcher then throws the ball, usually over the opposite batter's box, and the catcher usually has to step to the side to catch the ball. This process is repeated four times, or fewer if the decision to issue an intentional walk is made when there are already one or more balls already on the [[count (baseball)|count]].

Pitching an intentional ball, like a [[point after touchdown]] in football and a [[free throw]] in basketball, is designed not to be automatic. The rules on pitcher, catcher, and batter positioning at the time of the pitch still apply, and a pitcher could potentially [[balk]] or throw a [[wild pitch]] or a [[passed ball]].

The batter can swing at an intentional ball, but cannot leave the [[batter's box]] to follow the pitch. Swinging is rarely to the batter's advantage unless it could yield a better result than the batter reaching first base. An example of such a situation would be if there was a runner on second or third base that would not be forced to advance on an intentional walk, but could advance or even score on a base hit, [[sacrifice fly]], or fielding [[error (baseball)|error]]. In the Major Leagues, there were 12 cases from 1900 through 2011 of a batter making contact with an intentional ball. In 9 of these cases, the batter reached first base safely (six by hits, one by fielder's choice, and two by errors). The batter's team won in all nine of those instances.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://sabr.org/research/surprise-swings-intentional-balls|title=Surprise Swings at Intentional Balls|author=Deane, Bill|publisher=Society for American Baseball Research|date=Spring 2011|access-date=July 4, 2015}}</ref> Most recently, on September 10, 2016, the [[Tampa Bay Rays]] opted to walk [[Gary Sanchez]] of the hosting [[New York Yankees]]. He drove an intentional ball to left field for a sacrifice fly.<ref>{{Cite web
|url=http://m.es.mlb.com/cutfour/2016/09/10/200617432/gary-sanchez-almost-hit-a-homer-on-an-intentional-walk-pitch
|title=You can try to intentionally walk Gary Sanchez but he'll just hit an almost-homer anyway
|publisher=Major League Baseball
|date=2016-09-10
|access-date=2017-05-20
}}</ref>