small ball

alternative smallball

1. slanguncountableball gamesA baseball strategy that relies on baserunning, singles, and hitting for average rather than hitting home runs.

   Antonyms: power hitting

2. figurativelyuncountableAny strategy that involves proceeding by small increments.

   The result was a new kind of “small ball” platform that confounded Clinton’s cabinet.

   2022, Chuck Klosterman, The Nineties, New York: Penguin Press, →ISBN

   1 more example

   Yes. It was such a small ball presentation. I did watch the event from afar, and I gotta say it was very strange to watch these Apple executives get on stage and express delirious enthusiasm over adding polls to iMessage.

   2025 June 13, Kevin Roose, Casey Newton, “Meta Bets on Scale + Apple’s A.I. Struggles + Listeners on Job Automation”, in The New York Times, →ISSN