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| Pitching |
 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. In the National League and the Japanese Central League, the pitcher also bats. Starting in 1973 with the American League and spreading throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the hitting duties of the pitcher have generally been given over to the position of designated hitter, a cause of some controversy.
In most cases, the object of a pitch is to deliver the ball to the catcher without allowing the batter to hit the ball. The ball is delivered in such a way that the batter either can't hit a pitch through the strike zone or is compelled to swing at a pitch outside of the strike zone. If the batter elects not to swing at the pitch, it is called a strike if the ball passes through the strike zone and a ball otherwise.
There are two legal pitching positions, the windup and the set (also called the stretch). Either position may be used at any time; typically, the windup is used when the bases are empty and the set is used when runner(s) are on base. Each position has certain procedures that must be followed.
Nearly all action during a game is centered around the pitcher for the defensive team. A pitcher's particular style and skill heavily influences the dynamics of the game and will often determine the victor.
The type and sequence of pitches chosen depends upon the particular situation in a game. Because pitchers and catchers must coordinate each pitch, a system of hand signals are used by the catcher to communicate choices to the pitcher, to which the pitcher either vetoes or accepts. The relationship between pitcher and catcher is so important, that some teams use more than one starting catcher; selecting the catcher for a particular game based on who the starting pitcher is. Together, the pitcher and catcher are known as the battery.
Keeping a foot on the pitcher's rubber at the center of the pitcher's mound, which is 60 feet 6 inches from home plate, the pitcher throws the baseball to the catcher, who is positioned behind home plate and catches the ball. Meanwhile, a batter stands in the batter's box at one side of the plate, and attempts to bat the ball safely into fair play.
Although the object and mechanics of pitching remain the same for all pitchers, pitchers may be classified according to their roles and effectiveness. The starting pitcher begins the game and he may be followed various relief pitchers, such as the long reliever, the left-handed specialist, the middle reliever, the setup man, and/or the closer.
Effective pitching is vitally important to a baseball team, as pitching is the key for the defensive team to retire batters and to preventing runners from getting on base. A full game usually involves over one hundred pitches thrown by each team. However, most pitchers begin to tire before they reach this point. In previous eras, pitchers would often throw up to four complete games (all nine innings) in a week. With new advances in medical research and thus a better understanding of how the human body functions and tires out, starting pitchers tend more often to throw fractions of a game (typically six or seven innings, depending on their performance) about every five days (though a few complete games do still occur each year).
Multiple pitchers are often needed in a single game, including the starting pitcher and relief pitcher(s). Pitchers are substituted for one another like any other player (see below), and the rules do not limit the number of pitchers that can be used in a game; the only limiting factor is the size of the squad, naturally. In general, starting pitchers are not used in relief situations except sometimes during the post-season when every game is vital. If a game runs into many extra innings, a team may well empty its bullpen. If it then becomes necessary to use a "position player" as a pitcher, major league teams generally have certain players pre-designated as emergency relief pitchers, to avoid the embarrassment of using a less skillful player. In baseball's early years, squads were smaller, and relief pitchers were relatively uncommon, with the starter normally remaining for the entire game unless he was either thoroughly ineffective or became injured; today, with a much greater emphasis on pitch count (100 being the "magic number" in general), over the course of a single game each team will frequently use from two to five pitchers. In the 2005 ALCS, all four of the Chicago White Sox victories were complete games by the starters, a highly noteworthy event in the modern game.
Although a pitcher can only take one step backward and one forward, he has to step off the mound to throw over to first base if he is a right handed pitcher. While delivering the ball, the pitcher has a great arsenal at his disposal in the variation of location, velocity, movement, and arm location (see types of pitches). Most pitchers attempt to master two or three types of pitches; some pitchers throw up to 6 types of pitches with varying degrees of control. Common pitches include a fastball, which is the ball thrown at high speed; a curveball, which is made to curve by rotation imparted by the pitcher; and a change-up, which seeks to mimic the delivery of a fastball but arrives at significantly lower velocity.
To illustrate pitching strategy, consider the "fastball/change-up" combination: The average major-league pitcher can throw a fastball around 90 miles per hour (145 km/h), and a few pitchers have even exceeded 100 miles per hour (161 km/h). The change-up is thrown somewhere between 75 to 85 miles per hour (121 to 137 km/h). Since the batter's timing is critical to hitting a pitch, a batter swinging to hit what looks like a fastball, would be terribly fooled (swing and miss, hopefully) when the pitch turns out to be a much slower change-up.
Some pitchers choose to throw using the 'submarine style,' a very efficient sidearm or near-underhand motion. Pitchers with a submarine delivery are often very difficult to hit because of the angle and movement of the ball once released. Walter Johnson, who threw one of the fastest fastballs in the history of the game, threw sidearm (though not submarine) rather than a normal overhand. True underhanded pitching is permitted in Major League Baseball. However, it is difficult to generate enough velocity and movement with the underhand motion.
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| Club | G | V | D | Pnct. |
| 1 Kvint |
12 |
12 |
0 |
36 |
| 2 Abator |
13 |
8 |
5 |
29 |
| 3 SDISOR |
13 |
7 |
6 |
27 |
| 4 Scorpion |
12 |
6 |
6 |
23 |
| 5 Hawks |
12 |
5 |
7 |
22 |
| 6 Cojusna |
12 |
3 |
9 |
18 |
| 7 Corsairs |
12 |
2 |
10 |
16 |
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| Name | AVR | SLG | team |
| 1 Burmei |
521 |
667 |
CRS |
| 2 Covalenco |
476 |
738 |
KVT |
| 3 Vloscinschii |
459 |
486 |
ABT |
| 4 Butnari |
432 |
705 |
CRS |
| 5 Belous |
423 |
462 |
KVT |
| 6 Postolachi |
407 |
519 |
CRS |
| 7 Novac |
400 |
543 |
ABT |
| 8 Fleostor |
385 |
500 |
ABT |
| 9 Soltan |
382 |
529 |
HWK |
| 10 Cuceric |
357 |
357 |
HWK |
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| Title | Name |
| MOST VALUED PLAYER |
Fleostor |
| BEST HITTER |
Burmei |
| BEST PITCHER |
Novac |
| BEST RBI runs batted in |
Butnari |
| MOST STOLEN BASE |
Fleostor |
| MOST RUNS SCORED |
Burmei |
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