How To Pitch In Cold Weather

Pitching in cold weather isn't easy. But its completely necessary, particularly in the North East and northern Midwest, where it's common to open the spring baseball season in sub-35 degree temps. So what to do?

• Always wear long sleeves.
• If not too bulky, try to wear compression tights under your baseball pants.
• Warm up the entire body before throwing by running and/or performing a dynamic warmup, such as that laid out for you in the TUFFCUFF Strength and Conditioning Manual for Baseball Pitchers here.
• Wear a jacket during your warmup and in between innings, but take it off when throwing in the bullpen. You can't pitch with a jacket, so don't warm up in the bullpen with it.
• When on the mound, blow on your hands between pitches. It's allowed.
• Keep heat packs in your baseball jacket pockets to keep your hands warm between innings. You can also wear batting gloves between innings to keep your fingers warm.
• Pitch inside! Hitters tend to have a more difficult time in cold weather than pitchers at keeping warm and staying quick with the bat. Throwing inside can be a great weapon.