SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Atlanta Braves ace Kyle Wright treats his last 10 or so warmup pitches as if he’s already facing an opponent in the opening inning.
Madison Bumgarner lets his final few bullpen tosses fly with far more intensity than at first pitch.
Miami’s Jesús Luzardo takes a moment to briefly step off the rubber, remove his hat and breathe, then reminds himself it’s time to be competitive even with the practice throws.
Around baseball, such focused approaches provide a glimpse into the intricacies of what it takes to shine under the lights on a big league mound.
“For me, sometimes I struggle out of the gate. It definitely makes a big impact,” said Wright, a 21-game winner for the Braves, the defending World Series champions who are entering this postseason as one of the top seeds. “Mentally it’s like you’ve already been there before. I make sure my arm feels good, everything’s on time and then I would say my last 10 is when I really try to turn the mindset on to getting after it a little bit and pretend it’s a little more game-like.”
And, now, others are following suit.
When young Oakland lefty Cole Irvin struggled to find a groove in the early innings a few months ago, veteran catcher Stephen Vogt suggested he might try patterning his pregame routine after what Bumgarner does. It has paid off.
Not much to lose mimicking someone with a track record like MadBum’s.
“I have a tendency to kind of ease into outings. Maybe that’s just arm speed,” Irvin said. “It speeds up my arm, it makes me not think and it’s kind of a good thing for me who thinks a lot on the mound and thinks through pitches and the process.”
Bumgarner figured it out on his own through some experimentation.
In the middle of a World Series season…