Pitcher
The only player who touches the ball on every defensive pitch, and the only one whose job is to stop the play from starting. Everything else on the field is a reaction to what he threw.
The job. The only player who touches the ball on every defensive pitch, and the only one whose job is to stop the play from starting. Everything else on the field is a reaction to what he threw.
What separates a good one. A pitcher is graded on what he controls and nothing else, which is why the modern measures strip out what the eight men behind him did. Strikeouts, walks and home runs are his. A ground ball that finds a hole is not.
At youth level. The one position where the adults have to protect the player from himself. Pitch counts and rest days are not guidelines, they are the difference between a fifteen year old who still has an elbow and one who does not.
Batter's Eye: look up anything in baseball