What's a "K23"?

"K23" is the scoring abbreviation for a play in which the catcher drops the third strike, allowing the batter to run to first base (because of baseball's "dropped third strike rule"). The catcher fields the loose ball and throws to first to force out the batter. The play is both a strikeout (K) and a 2-3 force out.

Many baseball fans think of this as a rare play, but it occurs fairly often. About 3% of strikeouts result in the catcher dropping the third strike (or catching it after it has bounced). 

Ryan Kalish tries to reach first base safely on a dropped third strike. (Photo by Eric Kilby. CC BY-SA 2.0)

Because of this, early versions of Season Ticket Baseball include K23 results on every catcher's Defense Table. But here's the problem: I don't like the K23 result. It's not fun or interesting. (It is fun and interesting when the ball gets away from the catcher and the batter reaches safely. But this play is much rarer).

It's also not realistic to describe all these "dropped third strikes" as 'K23'. Sometimes the catcher tags the batter. And sometimes the batter just walks back to the dugout and is called out by the umpire.

Finally, the rule is complicated. For example, if there is a runner on first and less than two outs, the batter is automatically ruled out — to prevent the catcher from intentionally dropping a third strike in order to create a double play — changing a 'K23' to a simple 'K'.

Therefore, I'm in the process of changing all K23 results to "2-3" ground outs (and adjusting the results on other cards to make up for this change). If you think the K23 result is interesting and you don't like this change, you can interpret all 'K' results on the catcher's Defense Table as K23. This will fairly accurately represent the number of dropped third strikes without altering strikeout totals.