Watching the first inning of Alabama @ S Carolina on ESPN. Bottom of first, Alabama starter getting hit and in a bit of a jam. Between batters, three players sprint from Alabama dugout out to the vacant bullpen... Presumably a pitcher and a catcher... Third guy either a coach or maybe another player. I see this happen all the time in college baseball; before the bullpen can get going, they have to run out to the pen with their hair on fire. I tend to think that top college programs, really most any college program, will tend to do things certain ways for specific reason(s). But I can't understand the reasoning behind this practice. To me, it always looks like a panicked fire drill. Would think it only makes a struggling pitcher on the hill that much more tense and punctuates to the offense that they really have this guy on the ropes. The only reason I can come up with is that there might be benefit to the reliever to run a bit before warming up... Get the blood and adreniline pumping. But seems as though the negatives outweigh this positive... after all, the guy could be getting loose even earlier out in the pen using bands and what not prior to getting a call from the dugout.
My question is, why not always have relievers and back up catchers start the game out in the pen? Some college teams do, but a lot don't for some reason... Leading to the "fire drill" effect described above. I realize this is real pitching staff minutia, but have always wondered about this. Any thoughts? Or, unlike me, do you have a life and not get caught up in such trivialities!
