Starting pitcher

Starting pitchers are expected to pitch for a significant portion of the game, although their ability to do this depends on many factors, including effectiveness, stamina, health, and strategy.

Under ideal circumstances, a manager of a baseball team would prefer a starting pitcher to pitch as many innings as possible in a game.

In the early decades of baseball, it was not uncommon for a starting pitcher to pitch 300 innings or more, over the course of a season.

In addition, there are accounts of starting pitchers pitching on consecutive days, or even in both games of a doubleheader.

It is believed that these feats were only possible because pitchers in the early years of the game, unlike modern starters, rarely threw the ball with maximum effort.

An example of a modern-day workhorse pitcher was Roy Halladay, who was the active leader in both complete games thrown and shutouts before his retirement in 2013.

A starter who works six or more innings while giving up three or fewer earned runs is said to have achieved a "quality start".