Baseball pitchers must wear cleats in order to be able to effectively pitch from a pitching mound. Cleats are the only way to give pitchers the great traction in order to throw the ball as well as they can and to perform the other duties required on the pitcher's mound.
Traction
Baseball cleats are designed to prevent the wearer from losing his footing. The No. 1 reason that you need cleats on the mound is for traction. The pitcher's mound is a circular dirt surface, and cleats are the only shoes that will dig into the dirt and enable the pitcher to have traction. A noncleated shoe would be slippery.
Drive and Push Off
A pitcher uses cleats to drive and push off with his back foot in order to throw the ball. The drive and push-off is a key part of the pitching motion and enables a pitcher to use his entire body to throw the ball harder. Without cleats, a pitcher's back foot would slide under the increased pressure.
Prevent Injury
A pitcher's throwing motion has a lot of working parts from the beginning of the windup to the follow-through. Pitchers are susceptible to a variety of injuries from head to toe, and a lack of traction would dramatically increase injury chances. Not wearing cleats can lead to the pitcher's slipping at any point, and that could result in anything from a turned ankle in the windup to an arm injury at the release point.
Fielding
Pitchers are also required to move on, off and around the mound in order to field the position. Fielding requires pitchers to move laterally to stop both on the dirt pitching mound and the grass infield. Cleats are vital to fielding, because otherwise a pitcher would slip and slide and be unable to stop on a dime to make fielding plays.
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