Feb. 24: Q of the Day

In the “live” batting practice that the pitchers are throwing, are the pitchers just serving up the ball so the players can hit? Or are they coming with good situational stuff?

– Mike W., Tulsa, Okla.

The answer is actually somewhere in between the two. Pitchers who throw live BP are not throwing soft balls to be hit. But they are also not typically throwing at 100 percent velocity. Remember, this is an early step in the process of building up their arms. Pitchers will mix up pitches for the benefit of working on everything in their repertoire. Some will even announce to the hitter what pitch is coming — so obviously the intent is not to fool hitters.

Why announce the pitch? Well, one of the purposes of live BP is for hitters to get comfortable seeing live pitches again. Oftentimes you will see hitters take more pitches than they swing at. That’s because this is as much a test for their eyes as it for their swing. The hope is that they’ll only swing at pitches in the strike zone.

In addition to participating in live BP sessions, hitters will also take BP with coaches. This is the BP you’re used to seeing — where the coach stands in front of the mound and the hitters swings at almost anything.

This question is timely because live BP is beginning today.  There are eight pitchers participating, including Adam Wainwright. It was during Wainwright’s first live BP session last spring that his elbow began to bother him. Also throwing on Friday will be Kyle McClellan, Jason Motte, Marc Rzepczynski, Brandon Dickson, Shelby Miller, Fernando Salas and John Gast.

Follow me on Twitter: @LangoschMLB