Home Run
A hit that clears the fence, or an inside-the-park run all the way around.
What it actually is. A hit that scores the batter himself, over the fence in almost every case and very occasionally all the way around on the ground.
What a scout reads off it. Home runs are the one offensive event no defense can touch, which is why they are worth so much more than any other hit. Judge a home run total by the park and the era around it before you judge the hitter: the same swing produces different totals in different buildings.
Where the lines are. Thirty is a good power season, forty is a real slugger, fifty is rare enough to lead the league most years. Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001 and finished with 762 for his career.
How it lies to you. A home run total says as much about health as about power, because it is a counting stat. Contact quality per batted ball, which is what barrel rate measures, is what tells you whether the total will hold up next year.
At Little League and travel ball. Little League fences sit around 200 feet, so home run totals there measure a completely different act than a 400-foot ball in a big-league park. The transition to travel ball on a 60/90 field is where most of those disappear.
Batter's Eye: look up anything in baseball