A 5 o’clock hitter is a guy who crushes the ball in batting practice before a game, but never seems to replicate his success in an actual game. These folks were previously know as “10 o’clock” or “2 o’clock” hitters back when games were predominantly played in the daylight hours.

A fly ball that is easily caught. The saying apparently originated in old general stores where they kept the canned goods up on a high shelf. The store keeper would knock the can down using a broomstick and it would fall easily down into the hands of the customer.

When a player’s back pockets are pulled inside out, he is said to have “elephant ears.”

A Cement Mixer is a pitch that for whatever reason “hangs” up in the strike zone, leaving it spinning sideways like a cement mixer and making it easy prey for hitter.

This term is used to describe a pitch thrown in on the hands of a player. It’s tied to the term “kitchen”, the upper-inside half of the plate near a hitter’s head, and can be combined with other kitchen metaphors, such as “he busted a few dishes up in his kitchen”.

This phrase is commonly thrown out when a ball passes through the legs of a fielder. It is a reference to both croquet and cricket. In croquet, you use a mallet to hit a ball through metal wickets which abstractly resemble legs, and in cricket the term has a variety of meanings.

Buck & Change

This term is used for players who’s batting average is between .100 and 1.99, where the 1 is the “buck” and the number after the decimal is the change. A batter batting .170 is said to be batting “a buck seventy”.

Rabbit Ears

This is a term given to a player or umpire on the field who picks up the criticism directed at them by fans. Players who have rabbit ears might see their performance suffer in clutch situations as they let the jeering get to them.

Throwing leather

A player or players who are making great plays in the field