Bullpen session during week

My son's coach has them throw 1 BP, 1 "flat ground" session and work bands once every week. on the other two days they long toss.

"Babied arms don't develop, they whither"

Pitchers need to throw more than once a week. If you can't talk to the coach you will have to do it at home- find some time to do it. That is what I have done with my son when he has been on teams that didn't believe in throwing bullpens during the week inbetween games. Here are some things I have kept notes on when they only throw in games once a week or every other week-

1. Velocity down in games due to not throwing enough and keeping the range of motion open in arm
2. Lack of control due to improper muscle memory
3. Early fatigue from an improper conditioned arm
4. Pulled back and leg muscles due to not staying loose
5. An ineffective pitching performance
6 Unhappy athletes and parents of those athletes

Gingerbread Man,
I couldn't agree more. There are a lot of things you can do to develop arm strength other than bullpens. There are a lot of things such as flatgrounds which can be an adjunct to bullpens, but they are virtually useless unless done with bullpens and throwing bullpens is the #1 thing required to develop and maintain control/command. In addition, a pitcher whose confidence in their control is down due to lack of bullpens will often drop their velocity more than otherwise necessary simply to be able to throw strikes.

How many MLB pitchers try to get by without bullpens? Only the rare reliever who is throwing too often to safely add on the workload of a pen and I've also heard of pitchers who went without pens to try to finish a season with an injured arm. The results of the case I'm thinking of were lack of control and command.

Curious if anyone had a plan others could follow - if you assume that a pitcher may be throwing between 50-100 pitches once a week, what type of schedule would you suggest the rest of the week. I know there are lots of options - info on # of pitches would be a great definition point i think, maybe helpful to many others. I've often wondered, and it would depend on a few other factors as well. Just a guess below...

Day 1 and or 2 rest...Day 2/3 long toss - 50-60 throws at graduated distances (150'-250').Day 3/4 ...bullpen - 60-80 pitches. Day 4/5 Long toss 70-80 throws. Day 5/6 rest or bullpen 50-60 pitches.

Pitchers especially, must throw every day. Position players need to throw no less than 6 days a week. A arm that is used every day, does not get sore. If you don't throw every day, you may have to ease into it, however, throwing everyday is essential.

Long toss should be done 1-2 times a week, and from 200-300 feet. If the player can throw over 300 feet, one of the long toss sessions should be 200-250 ft, and the other should be 275-300+. 35-50 throws every day is a minimum. The day after long toss, throwing may be lighter, but is essential none the less.

Throwing med-balls at a trampoline should be done 3-5 days a week. A legitimate bullpen should only be done once a week. However, 2 other light bullpens should be thrown during the week, each about 20-25 pitches. One would be from 65 ft(have the catcher scoot back), and the other should be from flat ground. Pitching a bullpen from 65 ft will teach a pitcher to throw threw his target(reach out), and it will get all of his pitches to work better(mostly curveball). Throwing on flat ground is good for mechanics and allows throwing off a mound to be almost a contrast-session, allowing the pitcher to feel himself pitch on a downward plane.

Yoga and pilates are very good for pitchers as well. But one of the most important things for a pitcher, to be able to one, throw every day and not be sore, and two build arm strength and have a healthy arm, is to do their shoulder exercises and NOT bench press. Bench press should not be done often.

The only real necessary shoulder exercise, is to grab 3 pound weights, and do arm circles(forward;palm down, backward; palm up) lateral raises w/ palm in, front raises w/ palm in, front raises w/ palm out, palm-in palm-out to the side w/ elbows up at armpits, palm-in palm-out to the front w/ elbows up at armpits, and 90 degree rotations(elbows stay at or above armpits, bent at 90 degrees w/ palms facing wall in front of you, rotate shoulders to have palms facing ground, keeping elbows in relatively the same spot, and repeat). Each one of these exercises should be done in sets of 30 reps(arm circles for 30 seconds in each direction), 2 or 3 sets each. They must be done 6-7 days a week. On game day, before warming up, pitchers should do only 1 set, which is enough for a light workout, and also enough to warmup the arm and get it loose. These will keep your shoulders healthy, and in turn your whole arm. It will also build elasticity and flexibility in your thoracic vertebrae(specifically the 90 degree rotations).

Also, pitchers should play catch with their other pitches(with exception to curveball) on regular throwing days, or in the beginning of long toss, as they are backing up to long-toss-distance. So throw a changeup, a two-seam, a cutter, split, etc from 80-120 feet. The changeup and two-seam would be the only two pitches that I would recommend throwing at over 100 feet. Any other pitch should be thrown around 80-100 feet. This will allow a pitcher to get a good feel for their pitch, and teach them to have the same tempo with each pitch, as they have to have arm speed to throw with distance.

Days off from throwing should be only once or twice a month, unless due to an injury, obviously. But realistically, with exception to a serious injury, soreness, pulled muscle, and even tendinitis should be rehabbed as quickly as possible, because if you take more than 3 days off, physiologically you are getting weaker. If an injury keeps a player out for a week or two, as soon as arm exercises and throwing can be done with little pain, they should begin easing back into their schedule. They should begin with light throwing, and doing shoulder exercises every day, and then within a few days throwing regularly should resume. Light exercises should start when they can be done without too much discomfort, and then throwing regularly should begin a few days after light exercises began(with consideration to the seriousness of injury; if player is only out for a week, 4-5 days after light exercises begin, throwing regularly should resume, but if player is out for a month, then perhaps 7-10 days after light exercises began, throwing regularly should resume)

How did pitchers before 1970 ever make it thru the season without Pilates, medicine balls, whole wheat, and long-toss?

Our pitchers throw everyday whether longtgoss, bullpen, game, etc. We throw at least 2 bullpens a week. Throw, Throw, Throw.

Welcome to the board Noahh. Nice post.
Several years ago I added 2 practice mounds (now we have 4) and this has really helped us be able to get more bullpens done. We try to pen every other day.

JMO, but I disagree with the throw everyday philosophy. The arm needs some rest for the muscles, tendons and ligaments to recover. I realize that very, very light throwing is not likely to hinder the recovery much but taking a day off or even better two days off after hard throwing isn't going to set a player back, while continuing to throw has the potential to result in that ligament or tendon not getting the rest needed to heal properly.

It varies from player to player. Different people recover at different rates. Some can do just fine throwing every day or almost every day. Some can't. The time to find out that a given player can't handle throwing every day isn't after a serious arm injury.

Most pitchers in high school, every pitcher that i can ever remember in our conference, are position players also. They are throwing every day in some shape, form, or fashion. We've had no problems with the throw everyday philosophy. Kids do not throw enough.

raiderbb,
Hopefully some them have got a long way to go when they are still in HS. May work, may not but you don't know at this point. I've seen a lot of post HS arm injuries due to overwork in HS that didn't show up then. I've also seen kids flourish on the same regimen. There's no way to be certain.

I agree with CADad on this one. If my son throws 80-100 pitches in a game, he needs to take the next day off from throwing. 2nd day he can start throwing and loosening up the arm, 3rd day some long toss. The arm does break down while throwing hard in game situations. I believe it needs a day to rest and recover before going at it again. Just my opinion, but I would rather be safe than sorry in the long run.

So you are telling us that a pitcher throwing 100 pitches with a medium velocity 90+ should get out the next day and throw?

I tend to agree with CADad and bballman, and FWIW, injuriesfor most, tend to show up after HS.

@CADad @bballman @TPM

Greg Maddux never took a day off from throwing from the age 18 until about 36. That means on the last day of the season, he'd go home the next day, and play catch. Your a baseball player, so that means you do what you do, and do it every day. Injuries to HS pitchers come from overwork, that is correct. But that's pitching in-game too often. Some highschool teams start one pitcher almost every game. That's what kills arms. If you're son threw 80-100 pitches, that night he needs a good night's sleep, and the next day he needs to go out and throw lightly. If he has PAIN, and I mean he is uncomfortable throwing even after warming up, that is something different. But the reality is, if they have pain, they probably jumped into the throwing everyday program too quickly. It's something that need's to be built up to, but it shouldn't take that long. If they do their shoulder workouts, and throw everyday, they won't have a sore arm. Period. Some of it is genetics, I understand, but to reach your genetic peak, you need to throw everyday.

Now Greg Maddux was a pitcher with obvious genetics. So 1 or 2 days off throwing a month is okay. But realize I said okay. If a player can throw everyday, that's even better.

So to clear it all up, if your pitcher just threw 80-100 pitches the previous day, he should throw lightly that day. That means build up to about 80% speed, and throw for a short period of time. And honestly, if they throw everyday and have a healthy shoulder, thoracic vertebrae, and arm in general, 80-100 pitches shouldn't be too bad. Don't get me wrong, that's a significant throwing day, but a baseball player should be able to handle it. Jamie Moyer is 48 and plays in the big leagues. He throws 100-pitch bullpens. And there's no need to spend 20 minutes stretching. The warming up of muscles and tendons is more important than stretching them. So say your warm-up period is 15 minutes. 2-3 minutes stretching, a 5 minute jog, and other exercises to get blood flowing to the joints such as the shoulder workout I posted previously for another 5 minutes or so.

quote:

Originally posted by SultanofSwat:
How did pitchers before 1970 ever make it thru the season without Pilates, medicine balls, whole wheat, and long-toss?

They were healthier. Our generation is grossly out of shape. You know how they did it? They threw everyday. Pitchers now are used to having 5 days off in between starts. So their body is used to that. Im not saying 4-5 days off in between starts isn't necessary. But throwing, and running and working out must be done everyday in between those starts. Of course pitchers from the 70s threw long toss and ate whole wheat. But we are way larger now a days. Kids threw harder 30 years ago. Because they didn't sit on their asses playing video games and eating the whole house. Their arms moved easier, they were constantly running around, riding bikes, etc. Kids were in shape. How could they not be? Even if they were smaller, they had nothing better to do but play baseball. Now we have science-proven exercises that could help us perform better if we were healthier in all other ways. Im telling you right now, if kids from the 70's added into their daily routines pilates, shoulder workouts, yoga, medicine balls, and the other workouts we do now, they would of been even better.

So 48 year old Jamie Moyer stretches for 2-3 minutes prior to throwing a bullpen?

Noah,
Where do you get your information? Before and into the 1970s most pitchers took the entire winter off. Breaking the adhesions was the routine during spring training. BTW, kids did not throw harder 30 years ago. I played with and against some of the best of that generation and the kids today throw much harder.

I love all this, "should be able to handle it, they throw everyday in the Dominican, the pitchers in Japan..." stuff. The reality is that we only see the ones who happen to have the genetics to survive that and never hear of the rest that go down to arm injury and end up back at menial labor.

quote:

Originally posted by J H:
So 48 year old Jamie Moyer stretches for 2-3 minutes prior to throwing a bullpen?

Yeah. He does. Most likely. Are you trying to tell me he stretches for 10 minutes?

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
Noah,
Where do you get your information? Before and into the 1970s most pitchers took the entire winter off. Breaking the adhesions was the routine during spring training. BTW, kids did not throw harder 30 years ago. I played with and against some of the best of that generation and the kids today throw much harder.

Most of it is biochemistry. And it has nothing to do with handling it. Unless your UNhealthy, you should be able to pick up a ball everyday, and throw, without a problem. Instead, they are unhealthy, because they are out of shape, don't do their shoulder exercises. Then their parents tell them, "it's okay, you gave it your best," when really that's the same reason that kid's assume their expectations to be so low. Throwing everyday isn't asking to climb mt. everest. It is necessary. And kids 30 years ago threw easier than kids now. Maybe not harder, but definately easier. 10-20 years ago, kids threw harder. When science began helping arms develop, and there still weren't computer games and what not to keep kids from staying in shape.

I know this. My brother pitched in HS in the early 80's. They threw him several games a week. Starting and relieving. When he wasn't pitching, he was playing a position and he was throwing everyday. He got to a point where he couldn't pitch anymore because he basically threw his shoulder out. He has told me about numerous kids that happened to back then. I saw it myself in the 70's. The guys who made it to the majors back then were genetic freaks. There may be a few guys now who could throw as many complete games with a 3 or 4 man rotation as did back then, but no one is given that opportunity because everyone knows that a TON of guys would go by the wayside trying to find the very few who could do it.

The Japanese pitchers are used as an example of guys who come here that throw everyday and can pitch with little or no rest and throw forever. I know a guy in MLB who has told me that for every one of these guys who make it to the MLB, there are hundreds who throw their arms out trying to get there. The ones who make it to the MLB are the genetic freaks like Cy Young back in the day.

Modern knowledge has caught up to the practices of the past. The MLB community knows that you can't waste 100 pitchers with all kinds of potential to find the one that can throw 9 innings 3 times a week. It just doesn't happen. Too much money involved. There are also many more teams now than there were back then, which means you have to find more genetic freaks than you did back then. It's a different world.

Common sense tells you that you should rest after strenuous activity. Throwing 80-120 pitches in a night is pretty strenuous and a pitcher should take a day off after it.

quote:

Originally posted by Noahh:

quote:

Originally posted by SultanofSwat:
How did pitchers before 1970 ever make it thru the season without Pilates, medicine balls, whole wheat, and long-toss?

They were healthier.

NOT!

They took drugs, they drank they did everything they could to get though the game and it wasn't applying the above.

Noah,
I played against Mike Scott, the Cy Young winner. He was the second hardest thrower on his HS team. His catcher who was drafted earlier and played in the big leagues threw harder. I had a 4th round draft choice and another pitcher who threw a 1 hitter in the big leagues on my legion team. There are a lot of kids now who throw harder than those guys did at that age. I doubt I saw any of them hit 90 in HS. The best pitcher in the league was a 2nd round draft choice who went to USC and never made the big leagues and I don't think he hit 90 in HS.

Ever heard of David Wells? Mr. Healthy???

I definitely agree that baseball talent is being babied way too much. They need to throw more frequently and train harder rather than taking all this time off. Rest is atrophy.

quote:

Originally posted by Kyle B:
I definitely agree that baseball talent is being babied way too much. They need to throw more frequently and train harder rather than taking all this time off. Rest is atrophy.

So, you are saying that your muscles are going to atrophy after taking one day off after a pitching outing? Come on, you can't possibly believe that.

quote:

Originally posted by bballman:

quote:

Originally posted by Kyle B:
I definitely agree that baseball talent is being babied way too much. They need to throw more frequently and train harder rather than taking all this time off. Rest is atrophy.

So, you are saying that your muscles are going to atrophy after taking one day off after a pitching outing? Come on, you can't possibly believe that.

No, of course not. I should have said "extended rest" is atrophy.

Rest has its place in a baseball training program, no doubt. But people take it way too far these days.

I am not sure that todays pitchers throw harder than yester-years pitchers. Sure, we have a more sophisticated system now in place to actually find and track the fastest pitchers/ prospects in the country than we did in years gone by but the truth all comes back to genetics and work ethics. I don't really buy into kids working harder these days to throw harder than they did in years gone by.

Every era in baseball has had it's share of flame throwers throwing over a 100 miles an hour- in every decade since the overhand fastball was instituted and became a way to get an out.

As our population gets bigger we have more hard throwing kids than we did in yester-year but that is only because we are pooling from a much larger population now. I believe personally that per capita, the ratio has probably been about the same in the last 40 to 50 years.

It's funny that you always here of the fast pitchers coming out of California, Texas, etc, but they also have the highest population of baseball players than anywhere else in the country.

I don't really believe that hardly anything has changed that much over the years into producing more flamethrowers now than before per capita amongst baseball player populations.

My own son projects to be a flamethrower and regardless of if he grew up now or 20 years ago, he would still have the same arm, genetics, work ethics, etc. Certainly no throwing program he has been taught has taught him to throw fast, he was just born with that ability.

Some have it naturally and others have to work hard at it and may never get there. That's how it has always been.

Does Bob Feller ring any bells? Perhaps the greatest flamethrower of all time, and not born in our modern era.

Here are a couple of articles that will help you know about frequency of bullpens in a given week as well as what to really work on during a bullpen.
Throwing program
Throwing Bullpens Like a Champ
Throwing Bullpens

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:

quote:

Originally posted by Noahh:

quote:

Originally posted by SultanofSwat:
How did pitchers before 1970 ever make it thru the season without Pilates, medicine balls, whole wheat, and long-toss?

They were healthier.

NOT!

They took drugs, they drank they did everything they could to get though the game and it wasn't applying the above.

Im not going to say whether or not they did those things or not, because I don't know. I do know some players did that, and you may be hearing exaggerated stories. But I can tell you all, anyone who hurt their arm who threw everyday, unless they had BAD genetics, hurt their arm because they weren't strong enough. Sure throwing everyday needs to be done, but if your shoulders, tricep, thoracic, legs, etc aren't strong enough to support throwing everyday, you'll get hurt. That's not to say to throw everyday you have to be a hell of a physical specimen, but nonetheless, you need to be in shape. Flexibility included. The shoulder workout I mentioned earlier is the SINGLE most important thing for a pitcher, and it needs to be done everyday. I would say yoga as well, but we all know yoga gained popularity in the 90's or so. But that's not to say pitchers of previous years didn't have other, if not better means of gaining and maintaining flexibility.

If you look at most highschool pitchers, if you grab ahold of their arm while it's at a 90 degree angle, and try bending it backwards, they are so tight, they can hardly even get it back, when a real healthy arm could get their arm rotated back so far it's on a flat plane.

Stories are not exaggerated. You ever sit down and talk with a former players from the 60's,70's,80's?

They did not necessarily have or follow a throwing routine, on their days off most did nothing, they ate, smoked cigarettes, slept and drank. Their shoulders hurt, many most likely had busted ulnar nerves, but they kept on pitching, regardless, as they knew they would lose thier jobs. The ones who lasted were probably freaks of nature, and you still find them to this day. It wasn't because they had daily routines to maintain their health, and some of the guys from that era confess privately to using steroids.

I have no objections to your suggested routine (with modification if one needs to), especially the shoulder excercises, VERY important. Good suggestions, IMO sounds kind of similar like sons pro routine in season when not rehabbing . FWIW, most pro pitchers now only shut down for a 2-3 week period then back up, mostly back to conditioning and tossing until a definite routine before they arrive at spring training. Some continue to play fall ball. A bit of info, many of the older vets don't over extend themselves in the off season and don't come to camp in the shape of the youngsters, they don't have to, they've already made the team.

I feel that injuries often occur because the lower body is often overlooked.

As far as bench press, this is something I argue about with son, not necessary. I beleive that lots of pitchers do things they shouldn't, this causes injury and do not spend enough time on loewr body.

My objection was that you claimed that they were healthier back then. Not true.

The big problem in all of this, as I have stated in teh past, my son is a professional and he works hard everyday to maintain good body health, it is impossible, for HS pitchers, especailly those that play multiple sports, to find time each day to do what one has to.

As far as the OP's post, there is a great example of why pitchers get hurt, whether you throw one inning or 7, a reliever or a starter, a pitcher MUST do certain things to avoid injury, not just throw a pen on the side. I think we have all can agree upon that.

On a recruiting visit a DI pitching coach told my son that his philosophy on bullpens was to have them mimic a game as much as possible, that is: throw at 80-90%; throw 15 pitches, all sorts; sit down for at least 10 minutes; throw another 15 pitches, and so forth.

His philosphy on long-toss was that when coming back in, you should expend the same force on each throw as was used at the max distance.

quote:

Originally posted by CADad:
Noah,
I played against Mike Scott, the Cy Young winner. He was the second hardest thrower on his HS team. His catcher who was drafted earlier and played in the big leagues threw harder. I had a 4th round draft choice and another pitcher who threw a 1 hitter in the big leagues on my legion team. There are a lot of kids now who throw harder than those guys did at that age. I doubt I saw any of them hit 90 in HS. The best pitcher in the league was a 2nd round draft choice who went to USC and never made the big leagues and I don't think he hit 90 in HS.

Ever heard of David Wells? Mr. Healthy???

Radar guns previous to the current ones measured the speed of the ball at the plate. This is the biggest misconception when it comes to velocity over the years. Nolan Ryan threw 100 mph, at home plate. The radar guns now pick up the ball as soon as it is thrown. That could be as much as a 6-7 mph difference.

And it doesn't matter what your body looks like. You can eat hamburgers all you want. David Wells threw everyday. And you know why he didn't hurt his arm? Who knows how strong he really was, but he was fat. Fat protects bones, ligaments, and tendons. His arm was healthy, that's for sure. Sure, you have to be in shape to throw. Theres going to be exceptions. Fat does a similar job as muscle does, except for the strength effect, that is. If you are strong, flexible, and in shape, you can throw everyday without a problem. If your fat, and flexible, you can throw everyday without a problem, to an extent, obviously. David Wells had the genetics to allow him to throw hard. That part was not as much strength as it was genetics. Everyone has a genetic peak. Had David been in shape from the time he was a teenager, and was strong, as well as flexible, he probably would of thrown even harder.

quote:

Originally posted by bballman:
I know this. My brother pitched in HS in the early 80's. They threw him several games a week. Starting and relieving. When he wasn't pitching, he was playing a position and he was throwing everyday. He got to a point where he couldn't pitch anymore because he basically threw his shoulder out. He has told me about numerous kids that happened to back then. I saw it myself in the 70's. The guys who made it to the majors back then were genetic freaks. There may be a few guys now who could throw as many complete games with a 3 or 4 man rotation as did back then, but no one is given that opportunity because everyone knows that a TON of guys would go by the wayside trying to find the very few who could do it.

Common sense tells you that you should rest after strenuous activity. Throwing 80-120 pitches in a night is pretty strenuous and a pitcher should take a day off after it.

You have to be able to tell the difference between, over-work, and throwing everyday. KIDS NEED TO THROW EVERYDAY. If they threw 80-120 pitches, the next day they should throw. Lightly, obviously, but it keeps you loose, and it keeps you strong, and it makes your body used to it. If you go into a gym and do a workout for the first time, your not going to be able to lift heavy for that specific workout, and the next day you'll feel sore in muscle groups you're not used to. But even the 2nd and 3rd times you do that workout, you'll lift significantly heavier. That is because your body is becoming used to it. And say you did do that workout everyday, you would no longer be sore from it. Now that doesn't mean go in there, and go max-effort until your extremely fatigued. But you could build up to a point, where you could do it for a long period of time.

People try to make pitching and throwing a baseball into some alien action that our bodies have to be careful with. That is not true. Sure you need to have good mechanics. But flexibility is ESSENTIAL. Throwing IS a natural movement. Just like how every player has a natural arm slot. Your not just going to make every player throw over the top, and if you are, you're clueless. There are mechanics and kinesthetic sequence to just about everything, and these make movements natural.

I've even heard of highschool pitchers, who are smart enough to find a way to get themselves out of the game when their stupid coach is trying to get them to throw 150 pitches. I admire these kids. They're not going to sacrafice their career for the sake of winning some little highschool game. But if you are not sore or seriously fatigued, their is no reason not to throw. And if you are sore or fatigued, most of the time, it's because of a lack of fitness.

quote:

Originally posted by TPM:
Stories are not exaggerated. You ever sit down and talk with a former players from the 60's,70's,80's?

They did not necessarily have or follow a throwing routine, on their days off most did nothing, they ate, smoked cigarettes, slept and drank. Their shoulders hurt, many most likely had busted ulnar nerves, but they kept on pitching, regardless, as they knew they would lose thier jobs. The ones who lasted were probably freaks of nature, and you still find them to this day. It wasn't because they had daily routines to maintain their health, and some of the guys from that era confess privately to using steroids.

I have no objections to your suggested routine (with modification if one needs to), especially the shoulder excercises, VERY important. Good suggestions, IMO sounds kind of similar like sons pro routine in season when not rehabbing . FWIW, most pro pitchers now only shut down for a 2-3 week period then back up, mostly back to conditioning and tossing until a definite routine before they arrive at spring training. Some continue to play fall ball. A bit of info, many of the older vets don't over extend themselves in the off season and don't come to camp in the shape of the youngsters, they don't have to, they've already made the team.

I feel that injuries often occur because the lower body is often overlooked.

As far as bench press, this is something I argue about with son, not necessary. I beleive that lots of pitchers do things they shouldn't, this causes injury and do not spend enough time on loewr body.

My objection was that you claimed that they were healthier back then. Not true.

The big problem in all of this, as I have stated in teh past, my son is a professional and he works hard everyday to maintain good body health, it is impossible, for HS pitchers, especailly those that play multiple sports, to find time each day to do what one has to.

As far as the OP's post, there is a great example of why pitchers get hurt, whether you throw one inning or 7, a reliever or a starter, a pitcher MUST do certain things to avoid injury, not just throw a pen on the side. I think we have all can agree upon that.

All I mean by healthier, is that they threw everyday, and they weren't sitting infront of computers and televisions.

And it is not that lower body isn't being worked(although I do cringe at the sight of all these highschool athletes with large upper bodies and tiny legs), it's more so that the upper body workouts kids are doing are decreasing their flexibility. A pitcher should never touch a bench press bar with more than 45 pounds on each side. And if they can't do 15 reps with that weight, than they should be doing a lighter weight. And really, a pitcher does not need to touch a bench press bar at all. If you work out 5 days a week, and I mean actual workouts 5 days a week, bench press should be done 1 or 2 of those days, and not heavy.

Good workouts for baseball players:
Tricep extensions(standing preferred, not lying down)
Tricep curls(like a bicep curl, but on a tension-machine)
Shoulder exercises(3 pound weights)
Pull-downs(I prefer to do these laying on the floor)
Rows(standing rows with a tension-machine preferred)
Leg press
Full-function squats
Rice
Wrist rollers
lateral fly(standing, not heavy)



EDIT: I'll finish this later, I've got something to do.