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starting pitcher wikipedia jump to content main menu main menu move to sidebar hide navigation main page contents current events random article about wikipedia contact us contribute help learn to edit community portal recent changes upload file special pages search search appearance donate create account log in personal tools donate create account log in contents move to sidebar hide top 1 workload 2 statistics 3 pitch selection 4 see also 5 notes toggle the table of contents starting pitcher 9 languages مصرى deutsch français 日本語 한국어 latina português русский 中文 edit links article talk english read edit view history tools tools move to sidebar hide actions read edit view history general what links here related changes upload file permanent link page information cite this page get shortened url switch to legacy parser print export download as pdf printable version in other projects wikidata item appearance move to sidebar hide from wikipedia the free encyclopedia baseball or softball pitcher who throws the first pitch for their team in a game chris young warms up in the bullpen before a game at wrigley field minutes before the 12 05 start see scoreboard clock in baseball hardball or softball a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team a pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent s first batter of a game starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the game although their ability to do this depends on many factors including effectiveness stamina health and strategy a starting pitcher in professional baseball usually rests three four or five days after pitching a game before pitching in another therefore most professional baseball teams have four five or six starting pitchers on their rosters these pitchers and the sequence in which they pitch is known as the rotation a team s best starter is known as the ace and is almost always the first man to pitch in the rotation in modern baseball a five man rotation is most common 1 in contrast a pitcher who enters the game after the first pitch of the game is a relief pitcher occasionally an opener is used for only a few innings and is replaced by a long reliever or a pitcher who would typically be a starting pitcher workload edit under ideal circumstances a manager of a baseball team would prefer a starting pitcher to pitch as many innings as possible in a game most regular starting pitchers pitch for at least five innings on a regular basis and if a pitcher is unable to do so there is a high probability that he will in the future be relegated to duty in the bullpen in modern baseball a starting pitcher is rarely expected to pitch for more than seven or eight innings at which point responsibility for the game is passed to relief pitchers including specialist pitchers such as setup pitchers and closers often a starting pitcher is subject to a pitch count meaning the manager will remove him from the game once he has thrown a specific number of pitches the most common pitch count for a modern pitcher is about 100 and it is now rare for a starting pitcher to throw more than 125 pitches in a game pitch count limits are especially common for starting pitchers who are recovering from injury at the youth level such as in little league baseball pitch counts are usually capped at a certain point as well as required rest before a pitcher can pitch again 2 in the 2018 mlb season the tampa bay rays debuted a variant of the starting pitcher dubbed the opener 3 whose role is a hybrid between those of the traditional starting pitcher and the closer in the opener strategy a relief pitcher starts the game and pitches the first one or two innings when guaranteed to face the top hitters in the opponent s lineup before giving way to a long reliever to work the middle innings of the game on some occasions teams would use multiple relievers who could pitch only one or two innings after the opener this became known as a bullpen game due to their lighter workload and conditioning openers are able to pitch more frequently than a traditional starter in the early decades of baseball it was not uncommon for a starting pitcher to pitch 300 innings or more over the course of a season in addition there are accounts of starting pitchers pitching on consecutive days or even in both games of a doubleheader it is believed that these feats were only possible because pitchers in the early years of the game unlike modern starters rarely threw the ball with maximum effort a starting pitcher who can be counted on to consistently throw many innings is known as a workhorse an example of a modern day workhorse pitcher was roy halladay who was the active leader in both complete games thrown and shutouts before his retirement in 2013 4 a pitcher that normally isn t a regular member of a team s starting rotation that situationally starts a game is commonly referred to as a spot starter citation needed pitchers that make spot starts are often relief pitchers mainly long relief pitchers out of the bullpen that are tasked to pitch multiple innings or a starting pitcher that is promoted from a club s minor league team to make sporadic starts spot starts typically occur because of emergency instances like a sudden injury to a scheduled starting pitcher in the rotation or if there are multiple doubleheaders requiring a tight workload 5 6 statistics edit a starting pitcher must complete five innings of work in order to qualify for a win in a game he starts under ncaa baseball rules which govern intercollegiate baseball a starting pitcher who pitches fewer than five innings can still earn a win if he pitches for a certain amount of time that is determined before the start of the game it is possible to be credited with a loss despite pitching fewer than five innings a starter who works six or more innings while giving up three or fewer earned runs is said to have achieved a quality start a starter who finishes a game without having to be relieved by the bullpen is said to have thrown a complete game which is almost always a win never change a winning team pitch selection edit starting pitchers usually have a variety of pitches to choose from broken into a number of categories fastballs a pitch thrown hard anywhere from the upper 80s to over 100 mph and which generally follows a mostly straight trajectory there are a number of different types of fastballs the four seam fastball is the hardest thrown pitch but also has very little movement or break to it the two seam fastball is slightly slower than the four seam fastball generally in the mid 80s to low 90s but breaks slightly inward to the pitcher s throwing arm as well as dropping slightly i e a left handed pitcher throwing a two seam fastball will have it tail slightly right to left the movement and velocity of the sinker is similar to that of the two seamer though sinkers tend to break earlier than two seamers the cut fastball cutter is similar to the two seam fastball in velocity but breaks to the opposite side of a pitcher s throwing arm i e a right handed pitcher will have it break right to left hard breaking balls the most prominent of the hard breaking balls is the slider a slider is a pitch that breaks sharply in the direction of the pitcher s arm travel left to right for a left handed pitcher it travels slower than a fastball usually in the 80s but faster than the slower breaking balls the other hard breaking ball the split finger fastball splitter mimics the fastball the splitter breaks late in its flight path and downwards from the point of release with a little bit of tailing action the split finger is usually thrown in the low to upper 80s although some travel upwards of 90 mph soft breaking balls the most common soft breaking ball is the eponymous curveball the curve breaks in the direction of the pitcher s arm travel from the point of release on through the entire arc of its flight if one were to look at a clock a straight drop curveball would be 12 6 a right hander with slightly more lateral break will have a curveball breaking in a 1 7 manner or with more lateral movement in a 2 8 manner a left hander that throws a curveball with more lateral break will either have an 11 5 or 10 4 curveball curveballs travel from the low 60s to mid 80s in speed the other soft breaking ball is the screwball which is essentially a reverse curveball as it breaks in the opposite direction of the pitcher s arm travel the screwball is a fairly rare pitch in modern baseball due in part to a widespread belief that it causes damage to the arm however a 2014 new york times investigation concluded that this belief is unfounded and that the screwball causes no more injury than any other pitch 7 other off speed pitches two other major off speed pitches are used by pitchers today one far more so than others the changeup which has variants such as the circle changeup the vulcan changeup or the palmball is a slow pitch that is thrown with the same arm motion and arm velocity of a fastball but with a much different grip that keeps the ball from achieving the same speed usually the changeup is 10 20 mph slower than the pitcher s fastballs this visual distortion from a fast arm swing and a slower pitch is used to disrupt the hitter s timing the other major off speed pitch is the knuckleball the knuckleball is a very difficult pitch to master both for the pitcher due to its unique grip and delivery manner and for his catcher due to the pitch being thoroughly unpredictable in its travel see also edit baseball portal setup man middle reliever closer left handed specialist long reliever list of world series starting pitchers notes edit for an evaluation of the relative merits of a four man and a five man rotation see rany jazayerli doctoring the numbers the five man rotation part 3 baseballprospectus com august 30 2002 archived february 24 2007 at the wayback machine league little regular season pitching rules little league archived from the original on december 17 2020 retrieved december 30 2020 how has a year of the opener changed mlb mlb com retrieved december 30 2020 halladay goes for 61 against nationals tribunedigital mcall cite web cs1 maint deprecated archival service link reds jose de leon to serve as spot starter cbssports com march 27 2021 archived from the original on march 21 2022 retrieved march 21 2022 mets scratch syndergaard strep from start espn com september 23 2016 archived from the original on march 21 2022 retrieved march 21 2022 schoenfeld bruce july 10 2014 the mystery of the vanishing screwball the new york times issn 0362 4331 archived from the original on july 9 2017 retrieved july 28 2019 v t e baseball positions pitchers by role starter ace opener reliever middle reliever long reliever setup man closer left handed specialist swingman by style power control ground ball fly ball switch defensive players by type pitcher catcher infielder outfielder utility player position player by number pitcher 1 p catcher 2 c first baseman 3 1b second baseman 4 2b third baseman 5 3b shortstop 6 ss left fielder 7 lf center fielder 8 cf right fielder 9 rf offensive players by role batter runner batting order 1 9 designated hitter pinch hitter pinch runner leadoff hitter cleanup hitter by style clutch hitter contact hitter power hitter switch hitter non players team roles manager coaches bullpen catcher executives president of baseball operations general manager other umpire official scorer bat boy ball boy girl related captain battery injured list phantom ballplayer platoon system retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title starting_pitcher oldid 1319107956 categories pitching baseball baseball strategy hidden categories articles with short description short description matches wikidata use american english from july 2022 all wikipedia articles written in american english use mdy dates from july 2022 webarchive template wayback links cs1 maint deprecated archival service all articles with unsourced statements articles with unsourced statements from july 2022 this page was last edited on 27 october 2025 at 21 14 utc page was rendered with parsoid text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike 4 0 license additional terms may apply by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc a non profit organization privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia legal safety contacts code of conduct developers statistics cookie statement mobile view search search toggle the table of contents starting pitcher 9 languages add topic