pinch hitter

noun

A substitute batter; one who pinch-hits.

“I’ll be sending a pinch hitter to do the presentation because I have the flu.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

nounpinch hitter (plural pinch hitters)

plural pinch hitters

  1. ball gamesA substitute batter; one who pinch-hits.

    This year the Tigers are using pinch hitters 72 percent more often than the league average. They entered Thursday leading the league with 59 pinch-hit plate appearances. Tigers pinch hitters were batting .231, above the league average for pinch hitters of .217.

    2023 May 26, Cody Stavenhagen, “A.J. Hinch is managing with confidence as the Tigers hang tight in the AL Central”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 09 Dec 2025
  2. ball gamesAn aggressive batsman brought on to score runs quickly, even at the risk of losing his wicket.
  3. colloquialA person who substitutes for another to perform one or more tasks.

    I’ll be sending a pinch hitter to do the presentation because I have the flu.

Origin

From pinch hit + -er.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Catalan batedor emergent
  • batedor emergentbaseball: substitute batter
French frappeur d'urgence
  • frappeur d'urgencebaseball: substitute batter
Japanese 代打
  • 代打 (daida)baseball: substitute batter
Korean 대타, 대타자
  • 대타 (daeta)baseball: substitute batter
  • 대타자 (daetaja)baseball: substitute batter
Spanish bateador emergente
  • bateador emergentebaseball: substitute batter
Cite this entry
APA

pinch hitter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pinch%20hitter

MLA

“pinch hitter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pinch%20hitter. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pinch hitter,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pinch%20hitter.

Source: pinch hitter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.