Baseball is a game that involves constant thinking. There is never a moment when a player is not thinking. Besides the coach, the player that does the most thinking is the pitcher. When on the mound the pitcher is faced with a wide variety of challenges that he must think out before he throws the next pitch. Figuring out what to throw next is the biggest dilemma any pitcher faces because he has to put scenarios into his mind and play them out. Before he can do this the pitcher has to know the order of the batter, the batter's abilities, the count, the number of outs, where the base runners are, what kind of pitch he's going to throw, what location on the plate and most importantly what can he throw to make a strike or to get the batter out. All this goes through a pitcher's mind before he throws the next pitch. Thinking is a huge part of a pitcher's credentials. Because of this, pitching is an art, an art of out thinking your opponent and winning the battle of getting the out.

The pitcher's role on the baseball diamond is to pitch the ball to the batter to get the batter out. This sounds easier than it really is. When the pitcher is on the mound he is thinking abo

Other factors that go into choosing the pitch and location are the pitch count. The pitch count is the number of balls and strikes that are on the batter. The pitch count is key to a pitcher because it sets up the pitch. A batter can face up to ten different counts: 0-0, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0, 1-1, 2-1, 2-2, 3-1, and 3-2. With each count a scenario can be formed. An example of this is in a 2-0 count. In a 2-0 count the pitcher has fallen behind in the count which means there are 2 balls to no strikes. In this scenario a pitcher is more likely to throw a fastball because he wants to get a strike. Another scenario comes with a 0-2 count in which the pitcher has no balls and 2 strikes on the batter. The pitcher in this cause will more likely throw his best pitch to strike the batter out, keeping it away from the strike zone so that the batter doesn't hit it. With each count comes a different scenario that the pitcher has to adapt to. No matter what the count the pitcher has to be confident in what he throws and he is continuously thinking about the outcome of each decision he has made.

The number of outs also effects the pitcher's decision about which pitch to throw and where to throw it. In baseball the goal of the defense is to get three outs without giving up any runs. Again this is harder than it sounds. With each out the pitcher is thinking what he must do to get the next out. This is where base runners come i

Some common words found in the essay are:
Baseball Baseball, pitcher thinking, game baseball, batter hit, play pitcher, count pitcher, double play, throw pitch, pitch count, scenario base runner, double play pitcher, balls strikes, requires deal thinking, thinking throw, batter hit ground,
Approximate Word count = 965
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)