Intentional Walk
The defense puts the hitter on first on purpose.
What it actually is. A walk the defense chose to give. Since 2017 no pitches are thrown for it; the manager signals and the hitter takes first.
What a scout reads off it. An intentional walk is a manager saying out loud that he would rather face the next man. Read it as a compliment to the hitter and as information about the man behind him, because you cannot pitch around anybody with nobody protecting him.
How it lies to you. The run expectancy tables say most intentional walks are a mistake: putting a free runner on usually costs more than facing the better hitter would have. They persist because the cost of the home run you avoided is vivid and the cost of the extra baserunner is not.
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