Pressure changes pitching in ways every player has felt. The heart rate climbs and the grip tightens. A pitcher who fills the zone in a calm bullpen can lose it in a tight game. Most advice at that point is about calming down: breathe and slow the game down. Those tools help. The research also points to something more durable, which is to practice under pressure until it stops feeling foreign.
Can you train to perform under pressure?
Yes, and some of the best evidence comes from expert athletes. Oudejans and Pijpers ran two experiments with experienced performers [1]. In the first, 17 expert basketball players practiced free throws for five weeks, half of them under conditions designed to raise anxiety. On a high-pressure test afterward, only the group that trained with anxiety held its accuracy. The calm-trained group dropped off. In the second experiment, expert dart players practiced either high or low on a climbing wall. Again, only the anxiety-trained group kept its performance under pressure, even though they still felt more anxious, had higher heart rates and reported more effort.
That last detail matters. The athletes still felt the pressure, and they had learned to perform with it. The authors describe this as acclimatizing to the specific processes that come with anxiety.
A follow-up study with novices found that even mild anxiety during training protected performance when anxiety was later raised higher [2]. A study of police officers points the same way: three one-hour sessions shooting against an opponent who fired back with marking cartridges removed the pressure-related drop in accuracy, while officers who trained on cardboard targets still dropped [3].
Does pressure training work across sports?
Low and colleagues pooled 14 studies from sport and law enforcement in a 2021 meta-analysis [4]. After removing one outlier, pressure training produced a medium-sized improvement in performance under pressure (g = 0.67). The benefit appeared for novices and experienced performers, and on both open and closed tasks.
Two limits are worth knowing. The studies measured performance under pressure created in a lab or training setting, and none tested in-game pitching statistics. Most also ran for weeks, so there is little data on long-term effects. Still, the direction of the evidence is consistent, and the method is cheap to try.
Why telling a pitcher where not to throw backfires
One of the few pressure studies on pitchers is about language. Gray, Orn and Woodman had experienced pitchers throw at targets shown on a projected batter, under low and high pressure [5]. One group saw only the target. The other group also saw a zone to avoid. Under pressure, both groups hit fewer targets. The target-only group showed changes in their mechanics, a sign of thinking too much about the movement. The avoid-zone group kept their mechanics and threw more pitches into the very zone they were told to avoid.
The coaching lesson is direct. Tell a pitcher where to throw the ball, and leave the danger zone out of the conversation. "Fastball down and away" works better than "whatever you do, don't leave it up." The same applies to scouting reports and pitch charts: show the target.
A related finding from Gray's book: athletes taught with detailed technical rules tend to break down more under pressure than athletes who learned with fewer explicit instructions [6]. Under stress, pitchers who focus on body parts often get worse. Outcome targets and ball flight make better focus points on game day.
Pressure needs reps
Make room for game-like bullpens
Pitch AI schedules your bullpens and Command days, so the work actually happens. Scored pens and live at-bats need a regular slot in the week to build up.
How to build a pressure ladder for bullpens
The novice study suggests starting mild and raising pressure over time [2]. Gray describes using constraints and consequences to make practice feel more like competition [6]. Put together, that becomes a ladder:
- Score every bullpen. Points for pitches within a set distance of the glove, a running total and a target number. Scoring alone adds stakes.
- Add an audience. Teammates watching, a coach charting out loud, a phone recording, parents in the stands. Being evaluated is one of the most reliable pressure sources.
- Add consequences. A walk costs the group a sprint, or the lowest score picks up the equipment. Keep stakes small and fair.
- Face live hitters. Simulated at-bats with real counts, a hitter in the box and someone keeping score.
Move up a rung when performance holds at the current level, and step back if it collapses. Pressure that is far too high for an athlete's level stops being useful. For pitchers who fear failure, start smaller and spend longer on the early rungs.
Make practice a little harder than the game
Once the ladder is in place, you can push practice slightly past game demands. These ideas apply the same logic covered in why pitchers throw strikes in the bullpen but not in games:
- Use a pitch timer shorter than the game clock. MLB's pitch timer allows 15 seconds with the bases empty and 18 with runners on [7]. Practice a few seconds faster than whatever clock your league uses, if it uses one.
- Start hitters in hitter's counts. Begin simulated at-bats at 2-1 or 3-1 so every pitch has to be competitive.
- Rotate in a new catcher. A different target, glove and setup adds the unfamiliarity of a new game day.
- Earn your way out. The pen ends only after three quality pitches in a row to called spots.
A sample pressure pen for this week
For a high school or college pitcher with game-ready pitches: 30 pitches. Ten scored pitches with the catcher calling random pitch types. Ten pitches as simulated at-bats starting from 2-1, with a teammate standing in and a timer a few seconds shorter than game rules. Finish with the earn-your-way-out rule. Write down your score so next week you are trying to beat a number.
Where pressure training fits in the week
Pressure work is mentally demanding and usually involves full-intent pitches, so treat it like any high-intent session. Place it on learning days earlier in the week, away from the day before a start, when simpler confidence-building work makes more sense (see random vs blocked practice for why). Count every pitch in your workload, and check how your arm feels before stacking a pressure pen on top of a heavy week. Our guide to pitching workload and arm health covers how to do that.
With younger pitchers, keep the stakes playful. Points and friendly competitions work. Public punishment for walks does not belong in youth baseball. For age-specific limits, read our safe pitching guidelines.
This post closes our series on practicing harder than the game. If you missed the start, read part 1 on bullpen vs game command and part 2 on random vs blocked bullpens.
Frequently asked questions
How can a pitcher stop choking under pressure?
Practice under pressure regularly. Studies of expert athletes found that those who trained with induced anxiety kept their accuracy on a high-pressure test, while those who trained calmly dropped off. Score bullpens, add an audience, add small consequences and face live hitters, raising the pressure step by step.
Should coaches tell pitchers where not to throw?
No. In a study of experienced pitchers under pressure, those shown a zone to avoid threw more pitches into that zone. Give pitchers a clear target instead.
Does pressure training work for youth pitchers?
A meta-analysis found pressure training helped both novices and experienced performers, and mild pressure was enough to help in one novice study. Keep it playful and low stakes for young players, using points and friendly competitions.
How do you simulate game pressure in a bullpen?
Score every pitch, have teammates watch, attach small consequences to walks, use a pitch timer shorter than the game clock, start hitters in hitter's counts and finish only after three quality pitches in a row.
Train for Saturday
Turn pressure into something you practice
Pitch AI schedules your bullpens and Command days, so the work actually happens, and the daily Wellness Check-In logs arm freshness, soreness and pain and can reduce volume on days your arm needs it.
Sources and further reading
- [1] Oudejans RRD, Pijpers JR (2009). Training with anxiety has a positive effect on expert perceptual-motor performance under pressure. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62(8), 1631-1647. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470210802557702
- [2] Oudejans RRD, Pijpers JR (2010). Training with mild anxiety may prevent choking under higher levels of anxiety. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 11(1), 44-50. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychsport.2009.05.002
- [3] Oudejans RRD (2008). Reality-based practice under pressure improves handgun shooting performance of police officers. Ergonomics, 51(3), 261-273. https://doi.org/10.1080/00140130701577435
- [4] Low WR, Sandercock GRH, Freeman P, et al. (2021). Pressure training for performance domains: a meta-analysis. Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, 10(1), 149-163. https://doi.org/10.1037/spy0000202
- [5] Gray R, Orn A, Woodman T (2017). Ironic and reinvestment effects in baseball pitching: how information about an opponent can influence performance under pressure. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 39(1), 3-12. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsep.2016-0035
- [6] Gray R (2021). How We Learn to Move: A Revolution in the Way We Coach and Practice Sports Skills. Perception Action Consulting and Education (chapter 7).
- [7] Major League Baseball. Pitch Timer (glossary): 15 seconds with bases empty, 18 seconds with runners on. https://www.mlb.com/glossary/rules/pitch-timer