Assist wished: Bullpen catcher

Being a Main League catcher is hard. Not solely do it’s important to squat in an uncomfortable place for over an hour on a regular basis for six months whereas sporting large, heavy pads (the instruments of ignorance) in the course of summer season, however you additionally have to be educated of your pitching workers and opponents in order to name the most effective recreation potential from behind dwelling plate.

Being a bullpen catcher, nevertheless, is simple cash by comparability, or so that you’d suppose.

Yesterday, the Arizona Diamondbacks posted a job listing in search of a bullpen catcher for the 2022 season. Whilst you would possibly suppose being a bullpen catcher is nothing greater than placing on a glove and helmet and enjoying catch with Main League pitchers day by day, there’s apparently much more to it than that.

The duties of bullpen catchers are far more concerned than anybody outdoors of the baseball world would possibly notice. In fact, on the high of the itemizing are the duties that we’d count on: “Attend Main League Spring Coaching and designated camps/exercises,” “Spend the whole lot of the 2022 season with the Main League group,” and so forth.

Then you definitely begin moving into the opposite duties.

“Work with the Pitching Employees and Run Prevention Coordinator to assist be sure that bullpen follow habits align with pitcher improvement plans.”

Run Prevention Coordinator? First off, I didn’t even know that was a factor. Secondly, do they need these catchers to assist develop pitchers, too? Most candidates wouldn’t know the very first thing about growing younger pitchers, and the way would being a bullpen catcher have something to do with that? I’d’ve thought that there have been coaches particularly employed to assist with improvement. Why would a Main League pitcher hearken to something some washed-up JuCo catcher who simply needs to remain near the sport of baseball has to say about arm slot or launch level?

Positive, catchers are a few of the most educated baseball gamers on the diamond, however there’s no method they know sufficient about pitching to assist develop a Main Leaguer, proper?

“Help with completely different parts of the advance course of for upcoming opponents as wanted.”

OK, what? These guys need to look into scouting stories for upcoming opponents as effectively? No. No, No, NO, NO!

That’s a Main League catcher’s duty. You would possibly as effectively signal the man to a contract at this level. Like he’s virtually part of the teaching workers at that fee. And what does it even matter? Regardless of how a lot a bullpen catcher would possibly attempt to assist prep a starter for an upcoming opponent, the pitcher is unquestionably simply going to hearken to what his precise catcher has to say on the matter, proper?

The {qualifications} listed for the BP catcher opening are far more in line to what you’d suppose a bullpen catcher is require to do: “Means to catch a number of bullpens every day,” “Sturdy degree of mental curiosity and openness,” “Means to deliver a optimistic angle and power to the ballpark every day, with a mindset dedicated to serving the wants of the group.” That’s all simply regular “Hey, teamwork makes the dream work” speak we see on job postings day by day. The popular {qualifications} although, are somewhat additional.

Positive, studying Microsoft Workplace isn’t that troublesome. Phrase and PowerPoint are fairly self-explanatory, and for those who actually sit down and take a look at to determine Excel, anybody ought to have the ability to be taught to place collectively a primary spreadsheet in an hour or two. Nonetheless, needing to have “robust data of the advance and self-scouting processes,” that appears a bit a lot? Why on this planet would a bullpen catcher need to self-scout themselves? That makes zero sense. Possibly they imply they should assist the pitchers they work with self-scout themselves, however as soon as once more, there must be precise coaches and folks particularly employed to work on that stuff. Isn’t that what a pitching coach is for? Positive, a pitching coach is only one man, however can’t you get a number of folks in your workers to assist as an alternative of the man who’s simply there to be on the receiving finish of Madison Bumgarner’s fastballs?

Sure, bullpen catchers are technically coaches, however more often than not, candidates aren’t going to be guys with teaching expertise, slightly fresh-out-of-college guys in search of a option to keep within the recreation.

The common bullpen catcher makes about $90,000 a year, so I suppose it is sensible they’d need to put on so many hats in a Main League clubhouse. And FYI, if that $90,000 paycheck sounds engaging to you, there have been bullpen catchers up to now who’d by no means caught a day of their lives.

Aron Amundson performed a number of years of impartial ball as an outfielder, third baseman, and first baseman earlier than turning into Minnesota’s bullpen catcher. So, sure, he did have some high-level baseball expertise, however nothing behind dwelling plate. Mainly, if you recognize the sport of baseball effectively and have powerful palms able to dealing with insanely quick pitches…would possibly as effectively give it a go.