SOIL SCIENCE

Iwas a decent baseball player back in my high school days. But in no way was I major league material, because the genetic lottery didn’t deal me the phenomenal speed and arm strength needed to play at that level. But my older brother had me swinging a bat before I could talk in full sentences. Out of necessity, my high school coach would have me pitch once in a while, which was kind of like opening up a Christmas present — I never knew what I was going to get. Some games I threw well, but then others not so well, such as the game where I walked the first three batters and hit the next two. If you know baseball you know that’s kind of an ERA killer.

We had better pitchers on the team, so why did the coach occasionally take me from first base and put me on the pitcher’s mound? The reason was simple: You can’t play your best pitcher every game because his arm will wear out. A pitcher needs a few days for his arm to recover so a coach will have multiple pitchers who fit within a rotation. The coach tries to manage that rotation to make sure the best pitchers are available for key games, or