Pitcher Pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. The pitcher is often considered the most important player on the defensive side of the game, and as such is situated at the right end of the defensive spectrum. There are many different types of pitchers, such as the starting
The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers with the "Pitcher Abuse Points" statistic developed by Baseball Prospectus, and this essay is followed by a response by Prospectus writers Rany Jazayerli and Keith Woolner. The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers () is a non-fiction baseball reference book, written by Rob Neyer and Bill James and published by Simon & Schuster in June 2004. In the text on its dust jacket, it bills itself as a "comprehensive guide" to "pitchers, the pitches they throw, and how they throw them". "The Neyer/James Guide to Pitchers" is divided into three main sections. The first section contains a