Printer-friendly

Contact Author

November 29, 2012

In A Pickle

The Men Who Stare at Relievers

by Jason Wojciechowski

Do you know what bullpen coaches do? I will be honest with you: I was a baseball fan for a long time before I learned that bullpen coaches exist and are different from bullpen catchers. (They both start with "C"!) It was even later that I learned that bullpen coaches are not merely functionaries employed to answer the phone when the pitching coach gets lonely and/or bored.

Here is what Wikipedia claims:

The bullpen coach is similar to a pitching coach, but works primarily with relief pitchers in the bullpen.

Here is what the Baseball-Reference Bullpen says:

[T]he bullpen coach works with the team's relief pitchers, ensures that they are ready to enter the game and supervises their warm-up.

(The shocking lack of serial comma threatens to undermine the Bullpen's entire argument, but I think we all just have to breathe and get over it.)