Pitcher

A pitcher winds up

In baseball, a pitcher is the person who begins each play by pitching the baseball. Keeping a foot on the pitcher's rubber at the center of the pitcher's mound, which is 60 feet 6 inches from home plate, the pitcher throws the baseball to the catcher, who is positioned behind home plate and catches the ball. Meanwhile, a batter stands in the batter's box at one side of the plate, and attempts to bat the ball safely into fair play. Commonly, the object of any pitch is to either pitch the ball into the strike zone without the batter swinging, or pitch the ball such that the batter swings and doesn't make contact, although this object may change given particular situations in the game or certain match-ups.

Although the object and mechanics of pitching remain the same for all pitchers, pitchers may be classified according to their roles and effectiveness. The starting pitcher begins the game and he may be followed various relief pitchers, such as the long reliever, the left-handed specialist, the setup man, and/or the closer.

Famous past Major League Baseball pitchers include Cy Young, Christy Mathewson, Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Steve Carlton, and Nolan Ryan. Famous current pitchers (as of 2004) include Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, and Pedro Martinez.

See Also: baseball, baseball fielding positions, list of pitches

Pitchers can also be medium-sized containers - often made of glass - for holding liquid, usually to pour for drinking.