Water the garden

In baseball, “watering the garden” is a vivid metaphor that describes a pitcher purposefully delivering a pitch beyond the strike zone, usually far wide or high in the batter’s box.

The meaning and applications are broken out here:

Watering the garden explains a non-competitive pitcher’s pitch. This is a purposeful toss designed not for swinging by the hitter.

The area outside the striking zone is the “garden” under maintenance. The pitcher is figuratively “watering” this zone with his throws.

A pitcher could water the garden for some reasons:

• A pitcher could toss many balls beyond the zone to purposefully walk a hitter, deliberately placing a runner on base.
• Sometimes, a pitcher throws a “junk pitch”—that is, beyond the zone—to rest their arm between fastballs.
• To set themselves up for a strike with the following pitch, a pitcher could purposefully throw a pitch beyond the zone to get the hitter to respond in a certain manner.

Commentary: Commentators play a crucial role in the game, and they often use the metaphor of ‘watering the garden’ to describe a pitcher’s non-competitive pitches. They also use it descriptively when a pitcher struggles with control, pitching beyond the strike zone.

While ‘watering the garden’ is a neutral phrase, it can take on a negative meaning when a pitcher loses control and throws too many non-competitive pitches. Understanding these implications can make you feel more enlightened and knowledgeable about the game.

Watering the garden is not just a pitcher’s action, it’s a strategic move. It’s not about recording strikes, but about adding another layer of strategy to the pitcher-batter clash. This strategic aspect of the game is what keeps baseball enthusiasts engaged and intrigued.