bullpen catchers

Since this blog is named for the bullpen it seemed right to blog about the most important part of the pen beside the relievers, the bullpen catcher. Ever watch a game when there's a high foul pop over into foul territory in a park were the bullpens are tucked away in foul territory and you see your favorite reliever joking with a guy in old shingaurds pounding into a well worn catchers and has a number you might see on one of the guys on a football teams offensive line? Well that's a bullpen catcher. The guy probably went to a small college, played catcher, couldn't hit for his life but was a good receiver and probably could beat your dad in a footrace. Bullpen catchers bassically do anything everybody else hasn't got the time to do. Throw, catch  or shag batting practice, be a dummy base runner in a rundown drill, catch countless bullpen sessions, warmup the starting pitcher before the game and most importantly make sure the relivers are nice and warm to go into the gamehe's a jack of all trades simply put. Probably the most depressing thing about being a bullpen catcher is not actually playing in a real game since they're technically on the coach staff not a part of the active roster. But look on the bright side, bullpen catchers get paid any where from 30 to 60,000 doallars to play catch who wouldn't want to do that. They even get the same bonuses the stars of the team get when there team reaches the playoffs! They may not get the fame and fortune his teamates gets but he is a very important piece in the very big jigsaw puzzle which is a MLB team.