Classification Essay

One of the most important positions in baseball is the pitcher. The outcome of the game could heavily depend on how well that the pitchers do during the game. Although many people may know and like the game of baseball and have a basic understanding of how the game itself is played, few people actually know the different roles of pitchers and just how important they are to the game. A Major League Baseball team usually carries eleven or twelve pitchers on their staff. Five of those pitchers are starters and the rest are middle relievers, a setup man, and a closer. The five starting pitchers are a part of what is called a rotation. All that means is that the starting pitchers are basically numbered one to five and they pitch each game in the same order throughout the season unless a change is made which is common during the long season. Starters are your pitchers that you can rely on to pitch as long as possible and to not give up too many hits or runs if any at all. Accomplishments that starting pitchers strive to accomplish are a shutout, a complete game, a complete shutout, a no hitter, and a perfect game. A shutout is when the pitcher does not give up any runs. A complete game is when the starter goes the entire game. A complete shutout is when he goes the entire game without giving up any runs. A no hitter is when he gives up no hits in the entire ball game but errors were made and he may have walked batters. A perfect game is the rarest and sought after accomplishment of a pitcher and is done by throwing a no hitter without any walks or errors the entire game. If at any time during the game the manager of the team thinks that the starting pitcher is not performing well anymore and needs to come out, he turns to the bullpen for a reliever. If the game is still in the early stages, the manager is more than likely to turn to a middle reliever. A middle reliever comes into the game to help out the starter by taking over and hopefully doing better than the