When a pitcher winds up and throws: his jaw hard-set, his eyes bearing down on the opponent, his instant burst from stillness to rearing back and firing: it brings to mind the image of a gunslinger from the wild west.

And in fans’ minds as well as theirs, the experience can be just as intense.

Set at both the literal and figurative center of a baseball game, starting pitchers establish the tone for an entire team. They face a unique challenge in dictating every play of every inning while on the mound. The ball, and thus the game, will always start in their hands.

Naturally the position brings with it a great deal of pressure. But it is exactly this aspect of taking charge and controlling the action that starters find so energizing.

“The most enjoyable thing is being in control,” said junior Blaine Mercado, a pitcher on the Whitman varsity squad. “I set the tone for the intensity, the pace of the game.”

Starters, though, must also attempt to pitch for most or all of a game. Thus, part of the job description asks them to maintain this energy for an extended period of time.

“The biggest challenge of being a starter is that you have to make sure you’re efficient with your pitches,” said Pete Stadmeyer, a senior Whitman pitcher. “You have to make sure you’re not out of gas by the fourth inning.”

To possess this type of stamina requires a substantial amount of training, some of which occurs before a starter even laces up his cleats. In addition to rehearsing the mechanics and accuracy that pitching so highly demands, Stadmeyer and Mercado each noted that they spend time between starts running, weightlifting and working out.

All this physical training leads up to game day, upon which mental and emotional preparation, including combating nervousness, takes as much of a precedent as the physical aspect.

“A few hours before the start is when I begin to feel the butterflies,” said Stadmeyer. “I’ve been doing this forever, but I still get that nervous feeling and the adrenaline rush when I take the field.”

“I prepare mentally before the start by thinking about things I need to do: attacking the strike zone, getting ahead of hitters and locating pitches,” said Stadmeyer.

But getting onto the mound and into the groove can create an outlet for a starter’s tension to be released. Mercado sees the actual game as an active, freeing experience after his introverted pre-game habits.

“Once the game starts I can let my energy go,” said Mercado. “I don’t isolate myself. I try to be part of the game.”

That said, it is also critical to maintain firm concentration on the task at hand.

“I try to keep the same approach throughout the game,” Stadmeyer said. “[Whether] things are going well or against me I still try to execute one pitch at a time. It’s when you lose focus and start thinking a few pitches ahead that things can get away from you.”

In the midst of this very singular experience, starters remember that they have a team around them, that they have not been abandoned on the mound.

But being the pitchers they are, their eyes ultimately hone in on the individual match-up: the duel from which only one, themselves or the batter, emerges victorious.

“Each pitch is a ‘mano a mano’ battle with the hitter,” Stadmeyer said. “And to win that battle is a great feeling of satisfaction.”
Gunslinger, indeed.