Player’s View: Pitchers Weigh in on Their Catch Play Partners (Some Are Nasty)

Prior to batting practice, pitchers stroll onto the outfield grass to play catch with each other. Keeping their arms loose is a primary objective of what’s known as “catch play,” but there is more to it than just that. As a rule, the pitchers are throwing with purpose, both in terms of velocity and making sure that their mechanics are in order. At times they are also tinkering with grips, trying to find — or rediscover — desired movement on a specific pitch. And then there is long toss. While not all pitchers employ the practice, it is common to see crow-hop throws from foul line to deep center field. One thing you’ll rarely see is the casual tossing of a baseball back and forth.

How do pitchers get paired up for catch play? Does it differ for starters and relievers? What knowledge can be gleaned from these partnerships? Are there teammates you would rather not have as a throwing partner, because they’re especially challenging to catch?

With those questions in mind, I talked to three starters (Garrett Crochet, Seth Lugo, and Michael Wacha), two relievers (Liam Hendriks and Kirby Yates) a position player turned reliever (Lucas Erceg), a pitcher turned pitching coach (Mark Prior), a pair of pitchers turned broadcasters (Jeff Montgomery and Steve Sparks, and a longtime bullpen catcher (Javier Bracamonte).

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Garrett Crochet, Boston Red Sox left-hander:

“Greg Weissert is my catch partner right now. Honestly, it kind of happened out of necessity. It was Justin Slaten for awhile, but Slaten went down [with an injury]. I was playing catch with our bullpen catcher for awhile, but I prefer to throw with another pitcher. Typically, starters either play catch with each other or with a bullpen catcher. In Chicago [with the White Sox], it was mostly a bullpen catcher for me.

“When I was coming out of the bullpen in 2021, I was throwing with Michael Kopech and everything was just real hard and real scary. Sometimes with Weisert it gets that way, too, especially with the curveball he throws. It’s different for Greg and myself, too, because he has to be ready to pitch every day, whereas I don’t. I’m probably the one that he hates to catch. But no, he loves it. He’ll get down on one knee, use a catcher’s mitt, catch flat-grounds. It’s cool. I try to get after it as much as my body allows me to.

“[Communication] is important. We noticed that my cutter was going in the wrong direction for awhile at the end of June, beginning of July. I feel like we’ve kind of course-corrected that to a more ideal shape. I haven’t looked to see if the results have gotten better or worse, but it’s more execution related than anything. The changeup, too. I’ve been working on a changeup for six years. It’s nice having different perspectives.”

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Mark Prior, Los Angeles Dodgers pitching coach and former major league starter:

“[As a coach] I’ve never selected anybody for anything. Most of the time in spring training they all kind of organically find either: a) who they know and feel comfortable with, or b) who they like to talk pitching with. Starters will also separate themselves out a little bit from the rest of the group. They’ll take bullpen catchers and throw with them more, because they’re on their own programs. Sometimes closers have their own routines, so they’ll do that.

“In spring training, I would partner up with one of the starters, whether it was Kerry Wood or, one year, Greg Maddux. When I was a rookie, I played catch a lot with Jon Lieber. I also ended up doing it a lot with bullpen catchers. At that time [longtime pitching coach] Larry Rothschild was still able to throw, so sometimes I would throw with him.

“Kerry Wood wasn’t fun. His arm was extremely powerful, so it was not a fun game of catch on the receiving end. The velocity, the movement… he threw hard. It got on you really quick, and if you didn’t catch it right you felt it for awhile. It was an angry fastball.”

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Steve Sparks, Houston Astros broadcaster and former major league knuckleball pitcher:

“It seems like just about every team has a couple of guys that nobody wants to play catch with. That was the case for me my last year in the big leagues [2004 with the Diamondbacks]. Nobody wanted to play catch with me because I threw the knuckleball, with its unpredictability, and nobody wanted to play catch with Brandon Webb because he couldn’t throw a ball straight. He just naturally threw that two-seam fastball, and guys would hurt their thumbs over and over playing catch with him. We ended up playing catch with each other that season, both of us trying to staying out of the trainer’s room because of playing catch.

“The best story I’ve ever heard about guys who played catch together every day was about a pair of rookies with the Chicago White Sox in the early 1970s. It was Goose Gossage and Terry Forster. Goose Gossage told me the story. He told me that Forster threw even harder than he did, and every day they would play burnout with each other in the outfield before batting practice. They would start from 50 feet away and throw as hard as they could, trying to burn the other guy out.

“They were catch partners until right after the All-Star break when Terry Forster yelled at Goose Gossage to go play catch that day, and Gossage said, ‘I’m done.’ Forster said, ‘What are you talking about?’ Gossage took off his glove and showed Forster his hand, which was about twice the size of a normal hand. Forster’s fastball wasn’t simply as hard as Gossage’s, it was harder to catch because it had a cutting action to it. He’d been crushing Gossage all year long, but Gossage hadn’t wanted him to know that he’d outdone him in a game of burnout. Gossage got burned out by Forster their rookie years.”

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Seth Lugo, Kansas City Royals right-hander:

“In spring training, guys pick guys — I had [Michael] Wacha — but once we get into the season, we’re lined up for different days [and] our throwing programs are different. So, once the season starts, I just go to the bullpen catcher. That’s been the case since I got to the big leagues.

“The way I play catch, first throw I’m stepping on it. I’m not doing short, easy throws. My first one is going to be 85 [mph]. Within 10 throws, I’m pretty much full effort. Other pitchers don’t like that, so I try not to have other pitchers catching me. I did in the minors, but they don’t have bullpen catchers in the minors. Maybe they do now, but not back then.

“For years, my throwing partner was Robert Gsellman, and with that sinker he’s got… man, he would hurt my hand every day. He would catch my thumb. The ones with true sinkers, not really the runners… those guys get you good.

“No offense to my other [bullpen] catchers, but Pete Summerville, in San Diego, was a favorite. He really studied pitching. I spent a lot of time on TruMedia, coming up with different sequences and ideas to help out for my next start. I would be throwing to him, and he’d be, ‘Hey, that pitch right there, throw it again. It’s for so-and-so in your next start.’ He was really locked in to preparation.”

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Javier Bracamonte, Houston Astros bullpen catcher:

“I’ve been here for 25 years and am playing catch with someone every day. I mean, I’ll throw 800 balls a day just playing catch with the pitchers and throwing BP — I just finished throwing BP for 20 minutes. But I could tell you so many names. Roger Clemens. Andy Pettitte. Roy Oswalt. Billy Wagner. Zack Greinke. When Justin Verlander was here, he would always make sure that I’d play catch with him. Charlie Morton. Some guys would wait for me, no matter what my schedule was.

“Right now, we have two bullpen catchers, Caleb [Nunes] and myself. In spring training, everything is set for the beginning of the season with who we’re catching. For the starter’s bullpen days, you’ve got your guys. But it depends on the schedule for the day — like I said, I throw a lot of BP — who you’re catching [in the bullpen and in catch play].

“I do [talk to pitchers about how their pitches are moving]. I’m catching them a lot, and I see the shape of their ball. I can suggest things like, ‘Your breaking ball isn’t as sharp.’ But they know. They know the way their pitches come out. That’s what you work on, basically, when you’re playing catch.”

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Lucas Erceg, Kansas City Royals reliever and former minor league infielder:

“Playing catch as a position player, with another position player, you’re mainly just trying to move the feet and make accurate throws, warming up the arm. There’s not much to it. It’s super different [as a pitcher].

“I take pride in my catch play as a pitcher. I’m trying to fine-tune some things that may have felt a little bit off in previous outings, or I’m making sure that I’m getting as much efficiency on my four-seam fastball as I can. Things like that. There is definitely more attention to detail playing catch with other pitchers as a pitcher.

“When I was with the A’s, my main catch play partner was Mason Miller. You might think he’d be ripping balls at 100 [mph] every day during catch play, but he and I were both on the same page. We knew not to try to blow all of our efforts in catch play, so that we could save our bullets for the game. It’s more or less the same over here. I play catch with John Schreiber. He’s a nastier pitcher in terms of horizontal movement and how he can manipulate the ball, whereas Mason just gets behind it and rips fastballs and sliders. He’s aggressive in that sense. With [Schreiber], it’s more about manipulating the ball, making sure he has his fundamentals down. They’re two different catch play partners, but they’re both achieving what they need to do to be ready on the mound.”

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Kirby Yates, Los Angeles Dodgers reliever:

“It was Tanner Scott, but he’s on the shelf right now. It’s me and Anthony Banda for the moment. How you get a [throwing partner] kind of starts in spring training. You find a guy who you’re friends with, or talk to, and start playing catch. I don’t think there’s a science to it, or anything like that.”

“In San Diego it was me and Craig Stammen for all those years. Last year [with the Rangers] it was me and D-Rob [David Robertson]. Partners can be important, because they are used to seeing how your ball moves every day, so if something is wrong you kind of get that instant feedback. For instance, a lot of times my ball will run, and I don’t like that. They can tell you what’s happening, and you can make slight adjustments along the way.

“They never say it about me, but there are certain guys I’ve played catch with and it’s not fun. Maybe the ball doesn’t always move the same when he throws, or he’ll come in a little close and rip it hard. Usually, when you rip your sliders you’re going to use your bullpen catchers.”

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Jeff Montgomery, Kansas City Royals broadcaster and former major league closer:

“I liked it to be somebody who was going to be with the team most, if not all, of the year. I liked to have routines. I was a big runner. I would come to the ballpark early and would run foul pole to foul pole for 30-40 minutes. Then I’d chill out for awhile, and when we came out for our team stretch is when I’d throw.

“I threw a lot with Rusty Meacham. He had good command. I didn’t mind getting down in a crouch to catch him, because he wasn’t going to be bouncing balls on me. No one was really ever memorably difficult to have as a catch partner. But I know there are guys who… I never had to ease into it. After a few balls, I could be full speed. Maybe I was one of those guys that guys didn’t want to play catch with, because I would surprise them by having a little more hump in the first few throws than they were ready for, or what they were used to. I remember one time I was playing catch with Bret Saberhagen, and after my second or third throw, he was like, ‘Whoa. You’ve got to loosen up a little bit, don’t you?’ I was like, ‘No. I feel good.’

“A starting pitcher I would throw with a lot was Tim Belcher. I liked guys who liked to play long toss. Most guys did back then. Some guys avoid it now, but long toss was kind of a regular occurrence back then. I liked throwing with guys where I felt like I could back up and do it from 150 feet.”

“One time Tim Belcher made me aware of my arm angle being down. This was in 1996, actually. I’d had a good start to the season — I made the All-Star team — but then my production started deteriorating. We didn’t know why. Belcher said, ‘Your arm angle is way down here; you’re normally up here.’ That led me to some more investigation, and we figured out that I had a rotator cuff injury. I was protecting my shoulder by dropping down. Tim Belcher made me aware of that.

“Back then we had VHS tapes that we used. They had a camera in center field. One angle is all they had for a pitcher. We got a tape from early in the year, plugged it in, and put a little piece of tape on the screen where my arm was. Then we got a tape from later in the year, plugged it in, and my arm angle was about six inches lower. Consciously, I didn’t know that it had dropped down, but it was a huge difference in my performance, or lack thereof.”

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Liam Hendriks, Boston Red Sox reliever:

“It’s generally the bullpen catchers, because I go long. I usually long toss. I go from the line to mid-center field to the center field wall. Generally, it’s hard to find guys, especially these days, who do that. One, I don’t want to change partners too often, and two, I don’t want to make some guys who might not have the biggest voice overthrow. I probably started doing that consistently in 2018 when I was in Triple-A after I got banished [back to the minors]. I got back up, and have done it ever since.”

“I played catch with R.A. Dickey a couple of times, and that wasn’t fun. He threw knuckleballs and they moved every single time. He’d throw a few heaters in there, but it was very few. Why would he throw something he doesn’t throw. I attempted a couple [knuckleballs] back, but they weren’t very good. Other than that, not really. It’s pretty generic with most guys, and you get pretty good at identifying who’s not going to be a good throwing partner early in spring training. You kind of avoid that from the get-go.

“In 2018, it was Fernando Rodney; in 2019-2020, it was Joakim Soria. He was a guy I’d kind of lean on to ask questions when I was starting to move toward the backend of the bullpen. He’d been doing it for 10 years, so it was nice to glean some information from him. There’s a lot of mileage in that guy.”

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Michael Wacha, Kansas City Royals right-hander:

“I try to grab another starting pitcher most of the time, because those bullpen arms could be a little too nasty to play catch with. I’d rather keep my thumbs in a good spot. So yeah, I try to stay away from some of those backend bullpen guys who are full throttle at all times.

“I actually play catch with our bullpen catchers a lot. Over the past probably five or six years I’ve primarily done that. I like having a consistent guy to kind of be my eyes on the other kind of side of the ball, to make sure everything is looking the same on a day-to-day basis. That type of deal.

“Early on in my career, when I was with the Cardinals, I would play catch with Adam Wainwright quite a bit. Shelby Miller and Lance Lynn were two other guys I played catch with. It’s kind of a starter-starter deal, but it’s kind of more for the offseason, too. Over the past probably four or five years, I’ve been working out down in Florida and playing catch with Max Scherzer. We’ve been pretty consistent catch partners.

“I’ve learned a lot from both of [Scherzer and Wainwright]. I’ve taken quite a bit of my stuff from those guys. Early on in my career, seeing the prep work, how to prepare for starts. I did a lot of the same stuff that Wainwright taught me. Then, having a new set of eyes with Scherzer, he’s taught me some catch play type stuff to kind of refine my offspeed stuff.

“The first day I played catch with him, his first 20-25 throws were 10-15 feet away, and he was flipping in breaking balls. He was getting them to spin from that distance. Then, once we get back to about 60 feet or so, we’ll start mixing in the fastballs. Then, we’ll come back in and kind of spin them again. But yeah, 20-25 throws, just kind of spinning your offspeed stuff, has gotten me better with my feel of those pitches. That’s an offseason thing with him that I carried over. Now I do it with every catch play.

“Wainwright would call out spots on your body — ‘Hey, put your glove on your right shoulder’ — and he’d spot up and hit it, right-at-the-chest type stuff. That was really cool to see, and to pick that up from him. But seeing his breaking ball while playing catch, it felt almost like it broke three or four times on the way to me. It just kept going. You get to see a lot of guys’ nasty stuff in catch play.”