by Steve Hammond
Should I play fall ball? How do I throw harder? Do you think I have a chance to play ball in college? These are questions I get asked multiple times a day. Enough so to get me to sit down and write about my thoughts on how I believe a BALLPLAYER should develop.
First, this article is intended for athletes from 13-18 years old, 7th grade through High School. Athletic development happens in earnest at these ages - I’ll share my thoughts on 8-12 year olds in a separate article. I also want to be clear that I encourage and promote playing multiple sports throughout the year - although that gets much more difficult as you get to the Varsity level in High School.
The best way to look at athletic development - Baseball in particular - is to work backwards from the end goal. For most ‘serious’ players, that means suiting up for a college baseball team. For the very skilled/hard-working/talented few, that could even mean playing at the professional level. But this generally isn’t on the mind of a 15 year old who only wants to make the Frosh or JV baseball team.
So how do you reach those goals? There are many variables in play, but for me, there are four factors that combine to determine your ability to play at the next level.
1. Talent
This is a word that gets thrown around often, but can be difficult to determine what it actually means. I believe talent is a reflection of 3 things. Physical skills - how hard they throw, how hard they hit the ball, how fast they are, etc. Baseball IQ - how they anticipate plays, how they read game situations, how they do the little things to help a team win. And finally, Projectability - how you can envision their skills developing over the years to come.
The 2nd and 3rd factors are hard to teach. They can be worked on, but are mostly innate in a good Ballplayer. Physical skills are what can be altered the most through training and practice. To make it more tangible, I’ll throw out a few numbers that I use in the facility to gauge physical skills:
Bodyweight - (Height in Inches X 2.75) A 5’8” player should be 187 pounds fully developed, and someone that’s 6’3” should be just over 203 pounds. This particularly applies to pitchers - middle infielders and some outfielders are often smaller if speed is part of their game.
Throwing Velocity - (Age X 5) This is the baseline for which Pitchers should try to stay on. Many players are above this number at younger ages, but fail to build strength and maintain the trajectory. 12 years old = 60mph (~20% of players). 18 years old = 90mph (~1% of players).
Batting Exit Velocity - (Age X 5.5) The same ratios hold true
Hex Bar Deadlift - (Bodyweight X 2.2) Once proper form is established, this is a great marker of strength. I tell people that strength is their magic pill. Once you build it, it’s hard to lose it - so the sooner the better!
2. Passion
This is absolutely mandatory for all but the most gifted natural athletes. The desire to put in the effort to continue getting better is what sets 90% of athletes apart. If you just play because it’s fun, there’s a strong chance you don’t make Varsity, let alone don a college uniform. Passion for the game - no matter the sport - can take you where you want to go. This is especially true for ‘late bloomers’ or those slow to develop at younger ages. I didn’t truly develop as a Ballplayer until after I got to college, but my passion for the game helped me work through 4 years of high school, 5 years of college, and 11 years of professional baseball. For those of you that love it enough, this could be a long and amazing journey!
3. Nutrition
Something that I see get completely overlooked in middle and high school is how and what people eat. Developing routines and habits at an early age can make a huge difference in a young person’s body and strength and energy levels. How much sugar have you had today? Did you have any protein before dinner? If the answers are ‘too much’ and ‘no’, then you’re not setting yourself up for success. Start small and keep it simple. Have some protein in your breakfast and bring some nuts, fruit and a healthy granola or protein bar to school with you to eat during the day. It’s not that hard, but very few people do it.
4. Recovery
Sleep and Hydration. The final developmental factor involves how well you sleep and how much water you drink. Things that are usually totally within your control. Again, keeping it simple is best. Sleep at least 8 hours every night and drink 100oz of water every day.
The easiest way to develop a habit for sleep is to work backwards from when you need to wake up. If that is 6:45am, then that means you should be asleep by 10:45pm. Notice the bold there. Not starting to go to the bathroom and brush your teeth, while scrolling Instagram at 10:45. Asleep. So that means turning off the TV and/or your phone at 10:15 and beginning your night time ritual. One tactic I’ve always used, and many athletes use, is to stretch on the floor before bedtime, taking deep breaths. You need the stretching anyway, and the deep breaths help to calm your body and mind - 2 birds with one stone.
Hydration can be incredibly important in sports, which everyone agrees with. The 2 problems that occur though, are that 1) athletes need to pre-hydrate rather than catch up once they’re thirsty, and 2) sugar water (Gatorade) is completely unnecessary. The sugar is doing nothing for you that a banana or orange couldn’t do, but better. One tip to start the day off right is to drink 20oz of water first thing after you wake up. It will kick-start your digestion, help get your body moving, and make it easier to get to that 100oz mark before dinner.
Looking at a 12 month calendar for a typical baseball player, the 3 biggest things that jump out at me are the lack of focused strength and agility training, too much pitching/throwing in the off-season, and the almost non-existence of a proper throwing program to develop arm strength, velocity, and shoulder health.
The following chart is what I feel is the best plan for development. Keep in mind, this assumes a ‘normal’ baseball season where the athlete played all spring and summer. If there was an injury or other factor that affected their in-season ability to play, this plan would be modified. I have several athletes each year that do a throwing program and play in the fall because they were limited or didn’t play in the spring/summer.
August and September should be almost completely shut down from throwing. Your body needs time to recover from all of the stress that throwing creates. But sitting on the couch is not recovering. This is an ideal time to put on some muscle and get stronger, or work on your conditioning and speed.
If you don’t play another competitive sport in the fall, October and November are ideal times to work on your defense and hitting skills. This can also be done part-time while playing other sports. Most programs do their fall ball from late August into early October, but I think it’s best to greatly reduce or shut down baseball activities if you played competitively the last 6 months. October and November is a good time to start up on skill work out on the field once a week, and if you have access to an indoor facility, train inside once per week as well.
The biggest factor with Fall Ball is pitching. Once athletes start throwing with velocity, the stress on their bodies increases. Fall is not the time to overextend pitchers and hinder their development. Therefore, playing a 20 game fall schedule seems quite counter intuitive. Most 13-18 year old athletes can go out and throw 20 pitches without negative consequences, but 80-100 pitches in a weekend is something entirely different.
The final missing piece to the development puzzle is a structured, progressive throwing program before the spring season. Following a program that factors in distance, specific drills, arm care, and conditioning is the best way to set yourself up for more velocity and a healthier arm. I didn’t learn this until 18 years old when I got to Sacramento City College. I left High School maybe topping out at 80mph, but after a fall and winter focused on building strength and following an aggressive throwing program, I hit 90mph just 1 year later. BOTH the strength training and the throwing program were equal factors in my development. Which is the exact thing I’m trying to educate the next generation of Ballplayers on, and help them stay ahead of the game in an increasingly competitive environment.
