The Pitcher

There are numerous names given to Pitchers or hurler over the years.

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 it or draw a walk. In the numbering system used to record defensive plays, the pitcher is assigned the number 1. he term "pitch" (which literally means "to place") comes from the early days when an underhand delivery was required, as with "pitching" horseshoes. The original rules specified that the ball was to be "pitched, not thrown to the bat." Overhand throwing by the pitcher has been legal since 1884, but the term pitcher and its variants remain in the language of the game.

A team's best starting pitcher is usually called the ACE.

Spot starter is a pitcher who starts an occasional game (perhaps only one game) who is not a regular starter in the rotation. This is a pitcher who is already on a team's roster and usually works as a relief pitcher. In contrast to a spot starter, who is already on the roster, an emergency starter is typically a player who is brought up from the minor leagues on very short notice because a regular starter is injured. Sometimes, however, even a player who is already on the roster may be referred to as an emergency starter if his starting role arises because the regularly scheduled starter has been injured.

A team's closer or late-inning relief pitcher is called a fireman.

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A relief pitcher or reliever is a pitcher brought in the game as a substitute for (i.e., "to relieve") another pitcher.

A pitcher the manager brings in late in the ball game to finish up the game is called a closer. Normally a really good closing pitcher will not pitch until the last two or the last inning to close out the game.

A relief pitcher who usually enters the game in the 7th or 8th inning is called a setup man.

Southpaw is a Left-hander, especially a pitcher. Most baseball stadiums are built so that home plate is in the west and the outfield is in the east, so that when the sun sets it is not in the batter's eye. Because of this, a left-handed pitcher's arm is always facing south when he faces the plate. Thus he has a "southpaw."

Washed Up is when a pitcher looses his ability to fire that ball with authority and hitters begin to blast whatever he throws, then we claim he is washed up.

Fireballer is a pitcher who throws extremely high-velocity fastballs, in excess of 95 miles per hour. A flamethrower.

A headhunter is a pitcher who has a reputation for throwing beanballs.

A Junkball pitcher who throws predominantly breaking balls and knuckleballs, pitches that are difficult to hit due to movement rather than velocity.

LOOGY is a mildly derogatory nickname for a left-handed specialist. An acronym for "Lefty One Out GuY," a left-handed pitcher who may be brought into the game to pitch against just one or two left-handed batters to take extreme advantage of platoon effects.

ROOGY is a slightly derogatory acronym for a right-handed relief specialist. Stands for "Righty One Out GuY".

A mop-up pitcher is usually the bullpen's least effective reliever who comes in after the outcome of the game is all but certain. Sometimes other position players also come in to mop up in the last inning in order to gain playing experience as well as give the regulars a rest.