quote:I think pitchers benefit by having other good pitchers on their staff as long as the overall number of pitchers is reasonable. Pitchers compliment each other by allowing each to showcase his strengths. If you’re the only good pitcher on the staff then your opponents will always save their “best” for you and that hurts your W-L. You have to have a good starter to provide opportunities for the closers and you have to have a good closer to protect “your” wins if you’re a starter.
Absolutely true, Fungo! It was, in part, that line of thinking that caused my son to want to pitch on as strong a staff as he could find.
Reflecting on your additional comments about pitchers getting more "chances" than position players, I think there's merit to that statement as long as the pitcher is consistently throwing strikes, in both workouts and games. Given how explosive the college game is, if a pitcher fails to demonstrate that he can consistently throw strikes, he's going to get on the mound only in practice...until he can figure out how to hit his spots with consistency.