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In baseball, a brushback pitch is a pitch thrown high and inside, usually a fastball, to force the batter away from the plate, often to intimidate. It differs from the beanball in that the intent is not to hit the batter, or intentionally thrown at the batter's head. Play-by-play announcers will sometimes call a high brushback pitch as being "high and tight." Some announcers also call it "chin music."

Hitters will often 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 farther away.

While controversial, many people knowledgeable about baseball acknowledge that the brushback is an important part of pitching, and a part of baseball. However, there have always been some headhunters who attempt to hit the other player for various reasons.

References

1. "Brushback @ Dictionary.com". Random House. 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-02.
2. "Beanball @ Dictionary.com". Princeton University. 2006. Retrieved 2008-10-02.

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