Starting Pitcher

What is a Starting Pitcher?

A starting pitcher (aka starter) is a pitcher who specializes in starting games. They usually pitch 6 or more innings. Then, the relief pitchers in the bullpen come in to close out in the game (although starting in the 2010s, this began to be put into question).

Starters don’t pitch every day. Instead, teams use starting rotations. Generally, the starting rotation is made of around 5 starting pitchers, so that each pitcher only has to start one of every five or so games.

Starting pitcher skills

Like all pitchers, starters benefit from having good stuff (qualities of a pitch that make it hard for batters to make contact) and control. Additionally, a starter must normally pitch deep into a game. This means that he must have the endurance to throw 100 or more pitches at or near maximum effort.

Because the starter usually faces the same batters several times each game, he also must have a wide repertoire of pitches. A reliever may be able to get away with just one or two good pitches. However, a starter is expected to have three, four, or even more usable pitches in his arsenal so that he can pitch differently to a batter each time he faces him. Knuckleball pitchers are the exception to this rule, as they can get away with throwing the knuckleball almost exclusively.

Starting pitcher examples

Best starting rotation in MLB history

Let’s look at the 1998 Atlanta Braves starting rotation, which is widely considered to be one of the best starting rotations in MLB history. The Braves’ rotation consisted of Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Denny Neagle, Kevin Millwood, and John Smoltz. Three of their starting pitchers are now in the Hall of Fame (Maddux, Glavine, and Smoltz).

You may have heard of Greg Maddux because of the stat named after him. A “Maddux” is a start where a pitcher pitches a complete-game shutout in less than 100 pitches. Maddux had 13 such starts since 1988.

In fact, all five starters in the Braves’ rotation threw at least 2 complete games that season. This means that they each pitched an entire game without being relieved by the bullpen. It’s rare for a team to have one starter who can pitch a complete game. (Remember that most starters pitch around 6 innings.) So it’s even more unusual for a team to have multiple starters capable of pitching 9+ innings, much less an entire starting rotation that can.

Filed under Terms