Hold

In baseball, a hold is awarded to a relief pitcher if they enter in a save situation, record at least one out, and leave the game without having reliquished that lead. To receive a hold, the pitcher must not finish the game.

There are two ways a situation may qualify for a save situation:

• The pitcher enters in the 7th inning or later with a lead of three runs or less.
• The pitcher enters with tying run on base, at the plate, or on deck.

The hold was invented in 1986 to give a statistical measure of the effectiveness of non-closer relief pitchers.