Well it would depend on age / level / position
training phase?
Sr in Colllege. Outfield. Summer/Early offseason.
You can use any color you want, but your basic assumption quoted above is your problem. The limiting factors in being able to catch, throw and hit, have absolutely nothing to do with acceleration, speed and for the most part, power. As I’ve said, these athletic qualities improve the athletes ability to the these things, but they are NOT the limiting factors in developing a sound ballplayer.
Real world example. Go into any D-1 football fieldhouse and get the strongest, fastest, most powerful atheltes you can find. Choose those that haven’t played baseball since little league. Have them play a descent high school baseball team and watch them get dismantled. It will be embarrassing. All that speed, power and athletic prowess will get them nowhere. What does this tell you about the limiting factors in baseball?
I’m assuming then that you have some baseball experience. Can you give me what you think would happen with their hitting and their fielding?
Yes, D-1 experience. My point is that normally, unless you have the kids for at least a few hours per day several days per week, very little time should be used for anything other than skill acquistion and situation awareness. Within that context, you can add drills that work on speed and endurance. But to take a few days working on a CF style accel/speed program combined with a weight program, you’ll end up with a Velocity type program that spends an inadequate amount of time on skills and situations.
Again, speed and power are great, but this isn’t football…the time necessary to improve speed and power to any significant degree can easily cut into the time needed to build, refine and maintain skill. And for a 10y.o., skill and situational awareness development are much more important.
Furthermore, and Charlie may correct me here, you can take a 15-16y.o. and bring him up to95% of his potential speed and power within a year to two, but it takes many, many years to fully develop top tier baseball skills. So for any athletes under the age of 15, I would suggest that acceleration work be built into base running drills, and power development be limited to swinging weighted bats and “home run derby” practices. They can hit the gym later.
It tells me you know very little about the sport - that’s what it tells me!!
It’s just a matter of physics - to swing a bat -throw a ball - play defense - run the bases takes a certain level of performance which requires some athletic ability - and the better it is the better the performance! Not to mention injury prevention!!!
Just send them all to Velocity. And the highest level you played ball was little league, right?
I think the Michael Jordan experience in baseball is rather illustrative here…
I’m sorry for the pissy little league comment, just got a little defensive. In an effort to actually offer a little assistance, I would refer you to one of the most successful training academies I am aware of in the North Texas area. My son, before he dropped baseball to focus on football and basketball, trained at D-Bat. They are a very successful baseball academy who train hundreds of local area boys and girls. Most of the Dallas Mustangs, who regular appear in the Connie Mack World Series Finals, have historically trained there, and last year they merged. If you’re ever in Dallas, you might drop by and see how they run their program. They have been incredibly successful putting kids in college and the pros and you could undoubtedly pick up some good info there.
Texas is a hot bed for tallent and great coaching!
what position does your son play
I dont think it would because there are plenty of examples of the reverse - Bo Jackson / Deion Sanders.
Its increadibly difficult for a pro in one sport to play at the highest level in another sport without enough time dedicated to perfecting the skills of the second sport.
Stay away from Velosity spots performance centers!!!
He was a third baseman. His size and speed (6’1" 175lbs. at 15y.o.) has pushed us towards basketball and football. He loves football (we have college coaches in the family) and all his friends have been playing select for years, so we had to drop baseball, much to my disappointment. But he is doing great. Just got back from the Texas State 7 on 7…went 2-1 and missed the finals by a dropped pass.:mad:
Anything???
Damn thats a big boy! Good Genes!
How many days per week would you bench press with a outfield athlete?
I would go one day bench press and one day weighted pullups or chinups OR bench press one day and db bench press day 2.
It seems I’m a little late to the party here, I don’t post much because I prefer to learn from those that know more than I do, (I walked on to my colleges track team, didnt run in hs) but before I blew up my arm (playing bball in hs) I was a DI baseball recruit as an outfielder, I do know baseball like the back of my hand though.
Speed is at a premium in baseball especially college there just aren’t many good american athletes playing baseball. Sprint training with a football like lower body lifting regiment (Defrancos) helps for speed development just as much because baseball tests the 60 yard dash. All you have to do is run under 7 seconds and coaches will like you, I usually ran a 6.7 and they were all over it. One of my friends ran a 6.5 and he was 6’5 he could’ve literally went anywhere to play.
You should NEVER barbell bench press, throwing puts enough stress/destruction on your shoulders you don’t need to add to it by bench pressing. I benched for football in HS and I stopped after my sr yr football season and started doing more chinups and my velocity jumped about 7 mph. pushups and DB press are ok. You should do two sets of pull for every set of push.
And for the record baseball is the ultimate skill game. Why is it that there are so many kids from such a small place (Dominican Republic is just one example that comes to mind but just about anywhere in the Caribean can be used as an example) playing professionally? The fact is they play ball EVERY SINGLE DAY, here in america kids barely play AT ALL in the winter and play maybe 4 times a week (usually less) in the summer, also theses kids play the right way many former and current pros teach them the right fundamentals at an early age when most american players NEVER learn the right fundamentals.
Being a better athlete/ training to be a better athlete will help you in baseball because so much emphasis is put on your 60 time, but it will NOT make you a good hitter (Yes it will increase your potential bat speed, so you’ll potentially have more power and with that potentially a better average) It can make you a better hitter, but if someone doesn’t know the correct mechanics to throw/swing they will never be able to express their true bat speed no matter how much potential they have. (If Usain Bolt had shit running mechanics, he wouldn’t be nearly as fast as he is). So SKILL always comes first especially for young players, a lot of those guys from the dominican (just one example i mentioned earlier) are not neccesarily strong or fast (middle infielders and outfielders are fast, but many 1B/3B are not) but they play the right way, every day, and with practice you do increase arm/bat speed. (Same with track- the more train the right way, the faster you get!)
Tell that to LSU and the U OF M…
Yeah, for whatever reason, 60 yard times in baseball are seemingly just as important as 40yd dash times are for receivers and D backs in football. Makes no sense at all to me. In my mind, college coaches should always take a better bat over a better athlete at most any position.
I saw a D1 centerfielder on a top 10 team that has no arm at all. He can’t make a decent throw from shallow center. Yeah, he’s fast, but…
Also, clocking kids on a straight 60 makes no sense. Either clock them on a straight home to first, or home to second…