Count (baseball) - Full Count

A full count is the common name for a count where the batter has three balls and two strikes. The term may derive from older scoreboards, which had three spaces for balls and two for strikes, since this is the maximum number of each that can be achieved before the plate appearance ends (such as with a strikeout, walk or hit). Many scoreboards still use light bulbs for this purpose, and thus a 3-2 count means all the bulbs are fully lit up.

Another strike against the batter will result in a strikeout, while another ball will result in a walk. However, a batter may maintain the two strikes indefinitely by hitting foul balls, so a full count does not always mean that only five pitches have been thrown.

A pitch which is thrown with a full count is often referred to as a "payoff pitch", since it is likely to be a good pitch for the batter to swing at. With three balls already, the pitcher cannot afford to miss the strike zone, which would result in ball four and a walk for the batter.

Baserunners often will run on the pitch, even if they are not very fast runners, especially with two outs. The baserunners will always be running with the pitch if there are two outs. The runners cannot be caught stealing or doubled off because the batter either will strike out to end the inning, walk to force the runners to advance, or put the ball in play and an out would be the third in an inning (in the event of a foul ball, the runner must return to his original base).