Batting Practice Pitchers

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Introduction

The batting practice pitcher throws baseballs over and over again to hitters to keep them "in the zone". They are a crucial part of the game to give hitters constant quality repetitions. From youth sports to the major leagues, you can find batting practice pitchers anywhere. At younger ages they are usually parents, or coaches that are the batting practice pitchers. The batting practice pitcher can be an occupation for professional teams. As of 2021, there are 9 fully-employed batting practice pitchers in Major League Baseball. The other 21 teams use a combination of coaches, bullpen catchers, and staff to fill that role.

Being a professional batting practice pitcher is not an easy job. They are tasked with throwing 500 pitches a day for 9 months straight. It is something that does not come naturally, these guys have to build their arm strength and accuracy in order to maintain their abilities throughout the year. Just like in any sport, batting practice pitchers have to practice too in order to get better. They will throw at a wall constantly in order to perfect their craft. To be a professional batting practice pitcher they must perfect the art of consistency. If they do not consistently throw the ball in the same spot every time then it throws off the timing of the hitters. All the hitters want to worry about is getting into a flow and if the batting practice pitcher can't hit the same spot every time then the hitter cannot get into that flow.

Since there is a niche market for this occupation, professional teams will look to former professional baseball players to fill the role. They already have the knowledge of what the job entails, so they make perfect fits for professional teams in need.

Pitching Machines

The pitching machine has become more common in baseball at various levels of the sport. They are very useful because their ability to be consistent is much higher than a real person. The use of pitching machines is evolving quickly in professional baseball. Other than their accuracy, another reason pitching machines are becoming more popular is the velocity. Batting practice pitchers throw so much so they cannot throw very hard consistently. Pitching machines give hitters the ability to see faster velocity as well as immediate changes in velocity, which simulate real game situations. Pitching machines have become more common due to these factors which makes quality batting practice pitchers harder to find.

Although pitching machines are very useful tools for any level of baseball, batting practice pitchers still have advantages that pitching machines cannot replicate. The biggest factor comes from the arm motion that batting practice pitchers use. The motion replicates something very similar to what a hitter would see in a live game situation. A pitching machine cannot replicate a throwing motion because it just shoots out a baseball. The hitter does not know exactly when the ball is coming, whereas a real life pitcher would give you the exact timing for a pitch.

List of Current Batting Practice Pitchers

1. Mike Ashman, Los Angeles Angels
2. Dino Ebel, Los Angeles Dodgers
3. Ed Sedar, Milwaukee Brewers
4. Danilo Valiente, New York Yankees

References

This article "Batting Practice Pitchers" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:Batting Practice Pitchers. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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