Throwing and catching are the two most basic skills in baseball. We firmly believe that at most levels up through high school you can watch two teams warm up before a game and determine which one will win. The team that plays catch better, in most cases, will be victorious. To get most outs in […]

The lifts themselves require a great amount of technical work. This is good and bad when it comes to baseball athletes. One of the most popular questions I get is about using the Olympic lifts with baseball athletes. First off, I came up through my athletic career as well as my early coaching career with the […]

With specialized athletes playing at a high level, consistency remains key. When in season, these athletes already have high practice and playing volumes. Any trip onto various YouTube fitness pages yields a plethora of videos demonstrating every variation of every exercise that you could possibly think of. With all of these exercises shoved in your […]

Unless you’re stealing second, don’t slide head first into second base. The chances of being stepped on and injured are too great. It was a summer baseball camp that I attended in high school where I was first formally taught how to slide. How many scabs and a jammed wrist could have been avoided if […]

Avoid over-extending hips as this can increase the pressure in the lumbar region, especially when performing weighted bridges. Research indicates that the weighted horizontally directed hip thrust is an effective exercise for the muscles of the posterior chain – glutes, hamstrings, calves and back – that can be used to improve performance in the weight room […]

Ultimately, it’s up to us to take our profession and the pressing strength and conditioning questions of our day, put them on the prowler, and start pushing it forward to the next generation of coaches. From 2002 until 2010 my off-season revolved around an indoor track, and a loud, windowless sweat cave that we called […]

Power is how fast you can apply strength. In order to throw harder, throw farther, swing faster and hit with more power, you have to be both strong and fast, and you must be able to apply force (strength) quickly. If you are a young baseball player (or the parents or coach of a young […]

Seeing the ball at its contact point. This might be obvious, but it’s not simple.  Knowing how to hit a baseball starts with knowing how see the ball. Because of the different set ups and stances, there are different ways for how to hit a baseball.  But once a hitter gets to the contact point […]

Pitchers should refrain from throwing for at least two to three months per year and avoid competitive pitching for at least four months per year. In 2014, USA Baseball and MLB teamed up to establish Pitch Smart, a series of practical, age-appropriate guidelines to help parents, players and coaches avoid overuse injuries and foster long, […]

Programs should utilize multi-joint multi-planer exercise that enhances the nervous systems’ ability to recruit subsystems (muscle synergies) through improved coordination of muscles working together as a unit. Introduction: In athletics, muscles work in coordinated synergies to create movements and accelerate, decelerate and stabilize forces. Athletic movements that are recruited by the nervous system are termed muscle synergies. […]