Bullpen

Bullpens

During pregame warmup the starting pitcher will loosen up in the bullpen. Chris Young of the San Diego Padres warms up in the former bullpen location at Wrigley Field prior to a game. This was an example of a bullpen located in foul territory on the playing field.

While the game is in progress, a relief pitcher warms up in the bullpen. Here Aaron Fultz and Rafael Betancourt warm up in the Cleveland Indians' bullpen behind the Progressive Field fence.

In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if they have not yet played in a game, rather than in the dugout with the rest of the team. The starting pitcher also makes their final pregame warm-up throws in the bullpen. Managers can call coaches in the bullpen on an in-house telephone from the dugout to tell a certain pitcher to begin their warm-up tosses.

Each team generally has its own bullpen consisting of two pitching rubbers and plates at regulation distance from each other. In most Major League Baseball parks, the bullpens are situated out-of-play behind the outfield fence.