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The bullpen is a preparation, not an indicator.
-Harvey Dorfman
It happened again today. I was training a pitcher and heard him wonder, out loud, if his breaking ball was going to "show up" today. It reminded me of me when I played, but also echoes what I have heard my entire life from so many pitchers at all levels.
I believe it is critical for a pitcher to view his time in the bullpen as time to get things to work instead of a time to find out if they work. It is amazing to me how often pitchers see their daily "stuff" as a sort of lottery…either they show up with winning stuff or they approach the game with "question-marks" on their faces because of feelings from a poorly executed bullpen.
While I was certainly guilty of this in my career, I have since learned that pitchers have a lot more control of this than they likely think. It involves several different facets of preparation and all of them contribute to who "shows up" on the mound for the next start.
This week I will devote each installment of this blog to covering several different aspects of preparation for a pitcher. I hope it is helpful.
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