Batting practice pitchers are a treasured asset for baseball teams
By: Bob Nuse
You can’t watch a Major League baseball game these days without hearing about the pitch count. It’s the third inning and the starter has already thrown 49 pitches. This guy can’t go over 100 pitches or that guy fades when his pitch count reached 80.
Makes you wonder what the stats would be like if they kept track of how the batters fared when West Windsor-Plainsboro South baseball coach Don Hutchinson reached 300 or 400 pitches during one of his practice sessions.
"I’m a believer that the more you throw the more you can throw," said Hutchinson, who is in his eighth season as the Pirates’ head coach. "My arm has gotten tired, but it’s never been hurt. I would say some days I’ve thrown over 1,000 pitches in a day. We went indoors one day last week when it rained and I threw three rounds to 16 players. So that’s 40 or 50 pitches times 16 kids.
"I just try to be consistent and luckily I’ve been able to do it without any arm problems."
Being able to throw good BP makes Hutchinson an asset to his own program. Every coach would love to have their hitters hit off live pitching. When that pitching is consistent, it makes it all the better.
"One of my coaches, Mike Ficci, does 80 percent of it," said Princeton Day School coach Bruce Devlin. "He throws from 40 feet and he throws about 65 to 75 miles per hour. The balls get on them quicker. We never hit off a machine. My other coach, Dean Wiley, is a lefty and so the kids get a look from both sides of the plate. Mike can throw every day, seven days a week."
Other coaches would love the opportunity to throw BP every day of the week but can’t due to injury.
"Before I hurt my arm I could throw all day," Montgomery coach Peter Mueller said. "I felt a pop about four years ago and I haven’t been the same since. I had always had a good arm. That was the pride of my game, so it was tough when I wasn’t able to do it anymore. I still had it when I first started coaching, but the last few years I haven’t been able to throw."
WW-P North coach Bob Boyce pitched in college and always enjoys throwing BP. But because of an injury, he’s also limited in what he can do.
"I throw until my arm is dead and after that we use our outfielders," Boyce said. "They throw pretty hard and we move them up close. But most days I do it myself. When I played college I could throw all the time. But I had rotator cuff surgery."
The same injury that has hindered Boyce also stopped long-time Hun coach Bill McQuade from throwing BP.
"That used to be me, throwing every day," he said. "But then I blew my rotator cuff and that was it. I have two coaches, Dan O’Dea and Joe Kvarta, who do a real good job with it. They’ve stepped up and can do it. Not to the extent that Don (Hutchinson) can do it, but they try their best. We also use the pitching machine, but I don’t like to use the pitching machine too much. When someone is throwing they can mix it up."
In most cases, coaches seem to keep their pitchers away from tossing BP. If one of the coaches doesn’t throw it, an outfielder with a good arm is often used. But at Princeton High, Greg Short uses BP as a way for his pitchers to get their work in.
"I like to have the kids throw batting practice as much as possible for a few reasons," said Short, who is beginning his second season as the Little Tigers’ coach. "Batters can get a good look at different release points, pitchers need to throw strikes, and last, I just had shoulder surgery and can’t do it myself this season. With the short amount of time the kids have to prepare to pitch during the season, having them throw batting practice is a great way for them to work on mechanics, as well as build up arm strength and increase pitch counts. Kids just don’t throw as much as they need to anymore.
"A good batting practice pitcher not is only a rarity but a real gem if you can find one. The ability to throw a high percentage of strikes for an extended period is a difficult task."
Being able to throw your own BP or having a coach that can do it is certainly a luxury every coach would love to have. And as long as his arm holds up, Hutchinson will be one of the best in that area.
"Sometimes if I stop for a while and then try to come back I might feel a little stiff," he said. "But if I do it all in one shot I can go for a long time. Even when I throw to J.T. (Hutchinson) in the winter it comes back real fast. I’ve been lucky. When I played I wasn’t a pitcher, but I played baseball all the time or we played whiffle ball. I guess I built up my arm strength. When I go to lift weight sometimes I’ll feel some pain in my left arm, but never in my right."
Just how many pitches Hutchinson and rest of the BP guys have thrown isn’t something that’s usually recorded in the stats. But you can believe it’s something that the batters in the cage certainly appreciate.