Current Relief Roles
Pitching staffs on MLB teams have grown from 9 or 10 to as many as 12 or 13 pitchers, due to the increased importance of relief pitching. The staff generally consists of five starting pitchers, with the remaining pitchers assigned as relievers. A team's relief staff usually contains a closer who generally pitches the ninth inning, a setup pitcher who generally pitches the eighth, and a left-handed specialist whose job is to retire left-handed batters. The rest of the bullpen then consists of middle relievers who are used in the remaining situations, and perhaps additional left-handed or right-handed specialists.
The closer is usually the best relief pitcher, followed by the setup man. Players typically get promoted into later-inning roles as they succeed. Relievers were previously more multipurpose before becoming one-inning specialists.
Read more about this topic: Relief Pitcher
Famous quotes containing the words current, relief and/or roles:
“Without the Empire we should be tossed like a cork in the cross current of world politics. It is at once our sword and our shield.”
—William Morris Hughes (1864–1952)
“The basis of successful relief in national distress is to mobilize and organize the infinite number of agencies of self help in the community. That has been the American way.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“Modern women are squeezed between the devil and the deep blue sea, and there are no lifeboats out there in the form of public policies designed to help these women combine their roles as mothers and as workers.”
—Sylvia Ann Hewitt (20th century)