Thanks to all those who have been educating me on the finer points of baseball. Here is another question I have.
Why do relievers and closers warm up with throwing hard pitches? Do the benefits of muscle “warming up” that these pitches purportedly do outweigh throwing hard and tiring your arm out?
In another question I asked about the role of the closer in baseball, I was informed that a pitcher can’t go at 100 mph for more than one inning, and that starters pace themselves. That makes sense…if your pitcher throws hard, they fatigue quickly. So why do you throw warmup pitches that recreate exactly the pitches on the field? Does that not unnecessarily add risk of injury?
I am not against warmups like stretching and sprinting, or similar exercises. But to replicate the pitcher’s repertoire seems to me just asking for tiredness/injury.
If the goal is for the pitcher to perfect his mechanics, release point, etc., isn’t that something he already practices in non-pressure situations? Is it necessary for him to “practice” these mechanics? I can understand if a release point or arm angle is off, but isn’t that something that’s fixed once and then applied and learned for good? I would think if a guy’s mechanics constantly have to be tweaked he isn’t ready for the big leagues.
I make no claim to be a baseball expert and am prepared to be lambasted by the experts here. I’m sure I’m missing something. But if you get rid of warmup pitches then maybe your closer will have the extra stamina and velocity to shut down the opposing team for the seventh or the eighth as well as the ninth. Please enlighten me!
You’ll never see a manager start a reliever “cold” and will even buy time if the pitcher on the mound is “pouring kerosene” on the field by walking to the mound to give receivers time to warm up. The warm up throws are never full speed, its just like any pro athlete warming up their muscles by stretching or doing other exercises before going out on the field and help prevent injury as well as allowing the pitcher to make sure he will be 100% ready to perform.
This is why quarterbacks throw short warm up passes before going out on the field when they see the starting QB is injured, why football kickers kick into practice nets before a possible field goal try, why basketball teams do shooting warmups before a basketball game, why hockey players do a skate around before a game, why soccer players do warmups before a game, why boxers throw show punches before the big fight, why actors do vocal exercises before a performance, why the lead guitarist of Aerosmith does sound checks, and why race car drivers shimmy their steering wheels violently to the left and right to rub their tires into the asphalt during the warm up lap.
Muscles are tight and “cold” at rest and prone to injury if used hard. Warming the muscles make them looser and more elastic, crucial to hard throwing.
Most pitches thrown in the bullpen start soft and gradually reach game intensity.
Notice that a pitcher will keep something on his arm between innings and still needs a few throws before play starts.
Pitchers don’t warm up just before they’re called up. They’ll be warming up gradually through the day and when they’re called up they’re in that final warm up phase. The cameras are more likely to be on them in the last few warm up pitches when they’re starting to throw hard.
In addition, sometimes pitchers warm up solely to stretch their muscles and keep sharp. Starters do warm up sessions between starts (not usually during a game, but sometimes). A few years ago, the Mets were running short of pitchers and called on one of their starters to warm up. He came in and got a save, and said later that it was his day to do warmups anyway.
Teams track even warm-up throws. It does put wear and tear on the arm, but as others have mentioned, you need to warm up your arm before jumping into a game situation or risk injury. Pitchers also throw a set amount of warm up throws before the innings starts (I think they’re limited to 8 or so).
Also, I want to point out that although it’s really rare for pitchers to be able to throw in the upper 90’s or 100 for more than an inning or so, there are some who can do it. Justin Verlander (although he’s lost velocity now) was famous for ramping his velocity UP as the game went on. It was not unknown for him to go 8 or 9 innings, and have his last fastballs be among his best of the night, at 99 or 100. Nolan Ryan could take heat deep into the game as well. There might be a handful of others who can touch 98-100 late in the game these days (Gerrit Cole, maybe?).
The thing about pitching is there is no good way to stretch your arm without actually throwing a ball. That’s what long toss and warm ups are for. You can stretch and jog and whatever kind of prep you want, but if you just start throwing max effort the first time you actually pick up a ball, you’re going to have sore arm pretty quick.
I used to stretch and long toss an hour before a game. Right before entering a game, whether as a starter or reliever, I’d try to throw 15-20 pitches in the bullpen. Just going through the motion, make sure mechanics feel good that day. If I felt a little tight I’d throw a few more. Maybe 2 of those pitches would be full effort fastballs.
Then, when entering the game, you get 8 warm up pitches from the mound. I used to throw 3 fastballs, 3 curves, 2 change ups. Some guys go full effort on those warm up pitches to get a good feel for the mound. Some guys take it a little easy so the other team doesn’t time them up during warm ups.
Unless the pitcher coming into the game is replacing an injured pitcher. In the event that a pitcher gets hurt while on the mound, the reliever is allowed however many warm-up throws as he wants.
Yordano Ventura is the fastest starting pitcher right now, and he can throw heat pretty late in the game. He hit 102.9 last year, the fastest ever recorded from a starter (Chapman has the record outright). He threw a total of 545 pitches last year over 98.
