In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is a situation in which a batter or his clothing or equipment (other than his bat) is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided that (in the plate umpire's judgment) he made an honest effort to avoid the pitch, although failure to do so is rarely called by an umpire. Being hit by a pitch is often caused by a batter standing too close to, or "crowding", home plate.
Below is the list of the top 100 Major League Baseball players who have been hit by a pitch in their MLB careers.
Hughie Jennings holds the Major League record for most hit by pitches, getting hit 287 times in his career. Craig Biggio (285), Tommy Tucker (272), Don Baylor (267), Jason Kendall (254), Ron Hunt (243), Dan McGann (230), Anthony Rizzo (222), and Chase Utley (204) are the only other players to be hit by 200 or more pitches during their careers.
Rank | Rank amongst leaders in career hit batsmen. A blank field indicates a tie. |
Player (2025 HBP) | Number of times hit by pitch during the 2025 Major League Baseball season. |
HBP | Total career times hit by pitch. |
* | Denotes elected to National Baseball Hall of Fame. |
---|---|
Bold | Denotes active player. [note 1] |
Rank | Player (2025 HBP) | HBP |
---|---|---|
1 | Hughie Jennings* | 287 |
2 | Craig Biggio* | 285 |
3 | Tommy Tucker | 272 |
4 | Don Baylor | 267 |
5 | Jason Kendall | 254 |
6 | Ron Hunt | 243 |
7 | Dan McGann | 230 |
8 | Anthony Rizzo (0) | 222 |
9 | Chase Utley | 204 |
10 | Frank Robinson* | 198 |
11 | Minnie Miñoso* | 197 |
12 | Jake Beckley* | 183 |
13 | Jason Giambi | 180 |
14 | Andrés Galarraga | 178 |
15 | Alex Rodriguez | 176 |
16 | Curt Welch | 173 |
17 | Carlos Delgado | 172 |
18 | Derek Jeter* | 170 |
19 | Kid Elberfeld | 165 |
20 | Starling Marte (0) | 157 |
Fernando Viña | 157 | |
22 | Brady Anderson | 154 |
Fred Clarke* | 154 | |
24 | Shin-Soo Choo | 152 |
25 | Chet Lemon | 151 |
26 | José Guillén | 145 |
27 | David Eckstein | 143 |
Carlton Fisk* | 143 | |
29 | Nellie Fox* | 142 |
30 | Art Fletcher | 141 |
31 | Bill Dahlen | 140 |
32 | Chuck Knoblauch | 139 |
33 | Mark Canha (0) | 138 |
Larry Walker* | 138 | |
35 | Frank Chance* | 137 |
36 | Gary Sheffield | 135 |
Justin Turner (0) | 135 | |
38 | Dummy Hoy | 134 |
Reed Johnson | 134 | |
Nap Lajoie* | 134 | |
John McGraw* | 134 | |
Rickie Weeks Jr. | 134 | |
43 | Steve Brodie | 132 |
Damion Easley | 132 | |
45 | Brian Downing | 129 |
Willie Keeler* | 129 | |
A. J. Pierzynski | 129 | |
48 | Jeff Bagwell* | 128 |
49 | Carlos Quentin | 127 |
Aramis Ramírez | 127 |
Rank | Player (2025 HBP) | HBP |
---|---|---|
Scott Rolen* | 127 | |
52 | Aaron Rowand | 126 |
53 | José Abreu (0) | 125 |
Jeff Kent | 125 | |
Honus Wagner* | 125 | |
56 | Prince Fielder | 124 |
Matt Holliday | 124 | |
58 | Derek Dietrich | 123 |
Albert Pujols | 123 | |
60 | Miguel Tejada | 122 |
61 | Alex Gordon | 121 |
62 | Buck Herzog | 120 |
63 | Kurt Suzuki | 119 |
64 | Melvin Mora | 117 |
65 | Jimmy Dykes | 115 |
Sherm Lollar | 115 | |
67 | Frankie Crosetti | 114 |
Bill Freehan | 114 | |
69 | Carlos Gómez | 112 |
Josh Willingham | 112 | |
71 | Andre Dawson* | 111 |
Steve Evans | 111 | |
Luis Gonzalez | 111 | |
Mark Teixeira | 111 | |
75 | George Burns | 110 |
Jon Jay | 110 | |
77 | Charlie Blackmon | 109 |
Sherry Magee | 109 | |
Manny Ramirez | 109 | |
80 | David DeJesus | 108 |
Bill Joyce | 108 | |
Mo Vaughn | 108 | |
83 | Freddie Freeman (0) | 107 |
Jason LaRue | 107 | |
Russell Martin | 107 | |
Pete Rose | 107 | |
Wally Schang | 107 | |
88 | Barry Bonds | 106 |
Willson Contreras (0) | 106 | |
90 | Dan Brouthers* | 105 |
Edwin Encarnación | 105 | |
Ty France (0) | 105 | |
Mark Grudzielanek | 105 | |
94 | Paul Konerko | 104 |
Kevin Youkilis | 104 | |
96 | Kris Bryant (0) | 103 |
Vladimir Guerrero* | 103 | |
Adam Jones | 103 | |
Tris Speaker* | 103 | |
Kolten Wong (0) | 103 |
A base on balls (BB), better known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches during a plate appearance that the umpire calls balls, and is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, and further detail is given in 6.08(a). Despite being known as a "walk", it is considered a faux pas for a professional player to actually walk to first base; the batter-runner and any advancing runners normally jog on such a play.
In baseball, hit by pitch (HBP) is an event in which a batter or his clothing or equipment is struck directly by a pitch from the pitcher; the batter is called a hit batsman (HB). A hit batsman is awarded first base, provided that he made an honest effort to avoid the pitch, although failure to do so is rarely called by an umpire. Being hit by a pitch is often caused by a batter standing too close to, or "crowding", home plate.
In baseball statistics, a hit, also called a base hit, is credited to a batter when the batter safely reaches or passes first base after hitting the ball into fair territory with neither the benefit of an error nor a fielder's choice.
In baseball, a stolen base occurs when a runner advances to a base unaided by other actions and the official scorer rules that the advance should be credited to the action of the runner. The umpires determine whether the runner is safe or out at the next base, but the official scorer rules on the question of credit or blame for the advance under Rule 10 of the MLB's Official Rules.
In baseball, a home run, homerun or homer is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run is usually achieved by hitting the ball over the outfield fence between the foul poles without the ball touching the field.
In baseball, the strike zone is the area of space through which a pitch must pass in order to be called a strike even if the batter does not swing. The strike zone is defined as the volume of space above home plate and between the batter's knees and the midpoint of their torso. Whether a pitch passes through the zone is decided by an umpire, who is generally positioned behind the catcher.
In baseball or softball, a strikeout occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It means the batter is out, unless the third strike is not caught by the catcher and the batter reaches first base safely as a result. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is usually denoted by the letter K, or sometimes by the initialism SO. A "strikeout looking"—in which the batter does not swing and the third strike is called by the umpire—may be denoted by an inverted K.
In baseball, a double is the act of a batter striking the pitched ball and safely reaching second base without being called out by the umpire, without the benefit of a fielder's misplay or another runner being put out on a fielder's choice. A double is a type of hit and is sometimes called a "two-bagger" or "two-base hit". For statistical and scorekeeping purposes it is denoted by 2B.
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In baseball, an intentional base on balls, usually referred to as an intentional walk and denoted in baseball scorekeeping by IBB, is a walk issued to a batter by a pitcher with the intent of removing the batter's opportunity to swing at the pitched ball. A pitch that is intentionally thrown far outside the strike zone for this purpose is referred to as an intentional ball.
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