How many times can a baseball manager visit the pitcher?
A · Advanced · Pitching and game management · 9 of 9A manager has three free visits to the mound in a game, plus one more for every three extra innings. If a manager or coach goes to the same pitcher a second time in one inning, that pitcher must come out. Once the three are used, any further visit also means the pitcher is replaced.
How it works
- Three: "a maximum of 3 free trips", plus one for every three innings of an extra-inning game.
- A free trip: a charged defensive conference with a manager, coach or bench staff in which the pitcher is not removed.
- Not carried over: unused trips from regulation play cannot be used in extra innings.
- Second trip in an inning: to the same pitcher, and the pitcher must leave the mound for the rest of the game.
- Same batter: a manager may not make a second trip while the same batter is at bat.
- Going anyway: a manager who does so after a warning is ejected. The pitcher finishes the batter and is then removed.
- No go-betweens: sending a player to the mound with a message counts as a trip.
- When it starts and ends: from crossing the foul line to leaving the dirt circle of the mound.
- The clock: 30 seconds.
- A new pitcher: eight warm-up pitches inside the 120-second change clock.
- Back to the mound: a pitcher moved to a fielding position may return to pitch only once.
- Pitch counts: WBSC World Cups also set limits on pitches and rest days.
The glossary has the pitcher, the bullpen, the pitch count, the closer, the pitch clock and the pitcher's mound.
Tricky cases
A coach visits the pitcher in the third inning and the manager wants to visit the same pitcher later in that inning. What happens?
The pitcher must be removed from the pitching position.
The manager has used all three trips by the eighth inning and goes out again. What is the result?
The pitcher must be removed. After three charged conferences, a further trip means a pitching change.
The catcher jogs to the dugout, speaks to the manager and goes to the mound. Is that a visit?
Yes. Using a player to get round the rule is treated as a trip to the mound.
A game goes to a twelfth inning. Does the manager get any extra visits?
Yes: one extra free trip for every three innings of an extra-inning game. Unused trips from the first nine innings do not carry over.
Why the rule exists
Visits slow the game and can be used to stall while a relief pitcher warms up. A fixed number makes each one a resource to be spent with care, and the second-visit rule forces a decision: talk to the pitcher once, and the next time you must change them.
Where it differs
| Where | What changes | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Regulation play | Three free trips | WBSC Baseball Rule 13.11.1 |
| Extra innings | One more for every three innings | WBSC Baseball Rule 13.11.1 |
| Second trip, same pitcher, same inning | Pitcher removed | WBSC Baseball Rule 13.11.2 |
| WBSC World Cups | Pitch count limits also apply | WBSC Baseball Appendix 1, A1.8 |
From the rule book
World Baseball Softball Confederation, Official Rules of Baseball (2025-2026 edition), Rule 13.11 and Appendix 3, C2 and C3. Checked 14 October 2026. Official document: WBSC Official Rules of Baseball 2025-2026 (PDF).