In baseball, a strike is a mark against a batter during a plate appearance. A batter that receives three strikes during a plate appearance makes an out and is said to have struck out.

There are several ways to receive a strike:

• Swinging at a pitched ball and failing to hit it. (swing and miss, strike swinging)
• Refusing to swing or bunt at a pitched ball which is called a strike—determined to be in the strike zone—by the umpire. (called strike, strike looking)
• Swinging at a pitched ball and hitting it into foul territory when there are fewer than two strikes in the at_bat. (foul strike)
• Bunting at a pitched ball and hitting it into foul territory. This counts as a foul strike.
• Bunting at a pitched ball and failing to hit it. This counts as a swing and miss.
• Touching a pitched ball while striking it with the bat.
• Touching a pitched ball while in flight in the strike zone.
• Swinging at a pitched ball and foul tipping it into the catcher's glove. (foul tip)

A normal foul strike cannot count against the batter as his third strike; the third strike must be a swing and miss, called strike, touched ball or foul tip.