Why Strength and Conditioning is Essential for the Modern American Baseball Player...

  Here in the Midwest we are about to hit the fall sport season and high school football is about to "kick-off" and basketball/hockey seasons are just a few months away. It would seem that baseball would be the furthest thing from a young athletes mind right now.

Welcome to 2016 the era of sport specialization! Mother Nature used to limit our ability to play baseball during the late fall/winter but that’s not the case anymore. There is no shortage of facilities that cater to the needs of the baseball athlete. If an athlete wants to hit, throw or pitch during the winter they can do so under the expert tutelage of area hitting and pitching instructors.

I can opine until the cows come home that kids should take a break from year round sport participation but we can’t ignore the facts. Youth baseball is as competitive as ever and everyone is doing all they can to give themselves an edge.

I am not here to debate whether year round baseball is good or bad for developing young athletes… But if you truly have aspirations to be the best baseball player you can be you can’t ignore what happens as a result of this year round commitment to the sport.

I will circle back to the why but first allow me to introduce the what. Off-field strength and conditioning or Complete Baseball Performance (CBP) is essential for the modern baseball athlete!

As noted earlier everyone has access to expert baseball skill development through private/group pitching and hitting instruction. But there is a huge opportunity to set yourself apart with CBP. That’s because baseball players are an incredibly neglected population with respect to strength and conditioning.

Most training programs for young athletes are based off bodybuilding, football strength and conditioning or Cross-Fit. None of which are ideal, in fact they may do more harm than good.

A good baseball strength and conditioning program must address the unique demands of the sport. Baseball is a rotational sport with significant overhead activity with high velocity repetitive movements.

In fact throwing a baseball is the single fast motion in all of sport!

Humeral (upper arm bone) internal rotation velocity during throwing may reach 7500 to 7700 degrees per second.

And swinging a bat is not exactly a slow motion either…

During the baseball swing maximal hip rotational velocity reaches up to 714 degrees per second, where the pelvis rotates over a relatively fixed femur (thigh bone).

While qualities such as strength, speed and power are just as important in baseball as they are in other sports, it’s how you go about obtaining them that makes all the difference.

Now let’s get back to the why behind CBP.  First from a performance perspective two key qualities must be enhanced through training:

Durability- this allows you to stay on the field, where you’ll have the continuity to develop your skills. If you’re always hurt or experiencing pain you won’t be able to stay on the field.

Athleticism- the better athlete you are the better things tend to “stick.”  In other words the more fertile your athletic soil is the better the seeds your coaches’ plant will grow into something special!

There are also two other factors that necessitate CBP for the modern baseball player.

Sport Specialization- not only do you need CBP to counteract the demands of the sport, you’ll also need it to provide the diverse athletic stimulus that you’re missing out on by not playing other sports. This keeps your body fresh and increases your ability to adapt and develop elite level skill.

Athleticism is the foundation for sport specific skill; the more diverse and “deep” that foundation the better chances you’ll have to support high-level sport specific skill. If your foundation is to narrow it’s like trying to shoot a canon from a canoe! You’ll likely “sink” before you reach your potential.

Posture- due to modern technology kids are slouched and hunched over all day long leading to poor joint alignment and when you add on top of that extremely fast/one-sided/highly repetitive motions it can lead to significant muscle imbalances.

Start paying attention to how you stand at rest. Additionally, look around and notice how others stand at rest. I bet it looks a lot like the picture below (weight shifted into the right hip/low right shoulder/nipple, lower right hand, just to name the most obvious). This is something I see on extreme levels in some of our right-handed throwing athletes; they’re right handed people, in a unilateral sport, in a right-handed world!

Think of the poor alignment/posture as the athlete’s starting position. Their bodies have to work so hard just to play “catch up” (get the joints in position to execute the skill) it will likely lead to excessive stress on muscles, tendons, and ligaments in addition to the wear and tear on joint surfaces.

At least this will lead to poor timing and rhythm of hitting and pitching mechanics at worse it can lead to significant injuries to the shoulder, elbow, low back or hips.

Simply restoring alignment as close to neutral as possible could unlock significant gains in potential bat and running speed as well as throwing velocity.

Most strength and conditioning programs ignore this unique demand imposed upon the baseball athlete.

Baseball is an extremely fast sport and the one-sided nature and rotational demands require specific programming variables that simply aren’t addressed with Cross-Fit, Football based programs nor Stack.com.

The off-season is the ideal time to develop the body armor you’ll need to stay on the field and the athleticism that is necessary to develop elite level baseball skill.

Final Thought

Last week I spoke with my old friend Carlo Alvarez, Sport Performance Coordinator for MLB's Pittsburgh Pirates. There are two things from this conversation that I wanted to highlight.

First, Carlo told me that of the 40 athletes that the Pirates drafted this past June 39 had to be regressed from his basic conditioning program. He said they were a "mess" and lacked fundamental movement and general athleticism; they were not physically prepared for professional baseball. So essentially he had to take 39 kids that were skilled enough to be drafted and take them back to the basics (running, jumping, skipping, crawling...).

Secondly, the best athletes in America aren't playing baseball. 50% of the athletes in professional baseball were born outside of the U.S. Take a glance at the rosters of the 30 MLB teams and look at the starting shortstops... This is arguably the most athletically demanding position on the field and there are few American born athletes (7 out of 30 or 23%) playing that position at the MLB level.

What does all this mean? It tells me that there is a tremendous opportunity for those that make the commitment to improve their performance preparation and overall athleticism. If our best athletes don't play baseball then the kids that do choose the sport can make a huge leap by focusing on improving athleticism outside of baseball skill development. Further, skilled baseball players that are good enough to be drafted are grossly under-prepared for the demands of high-level baseball. This means athletes aren't doing the right things away from the field and they will likely stall out before reaching their potential.

The modern American baseball player spends plenty of time on skill development (possibly to much) and they are just as likely devoting time to speed and agility training and weight training that is not addressing their unique needs.  It's pretty clear (by the numbers) that the current formula is flawed, it's simply not working! If we keep running into the wall maybe it's time to find another way to get around it...

Learn why and how Complete Baseball Performance will allow you to maximize your full potential click here

What people are saying about the Complete Performance Program

Daniel led the team in just about every offensive stat!  I had several, several parents comment on Daniel's speed improvement this spring (eye ball test "he looks faster") and I have a feeling Daniel will have some company heading to the training facility this fall and winter to work with you!

- Chris, father of JV Baseball player

My girls’ soccer team worked with Coach Loomis last winter. His focus was on building a strong core for our female athletes. Injury prevention and proper technique were taught to our athletes. This past spring our team suffered very little, if any injuries. I believe that our lack of injury this season can be attributed to our girls participating in Phil Loomis’ off-season program.

- Todd, Troy Athens Varsity Soccer


Congratulations on your being named one of the International Youth Conditioning Associations Coaches of Distinction… USAH appreciates the time and effort our volunteer coaches, like you, put forward for the kids.

- Bob, USA Hockey’s American Development Model Regional Manager

Freddy really enjoyed your training program and we could really see the difference in both his body and his attitude. 

- Jim, father of 4 year Varsity infielder

Phil takes my development personally.  My goals are his goals. He is committed to pushing me to reach those goals so he constantly adapts my training to fit my needs as an athlete. Phil deeply cares about me as a person as well as an athlete.

- Matthew, joining  U16 New York Red Bulls Youth Soccer Academy, Fall 2016

Our son thinks your approach to core training, plyometrics and neuromuscular training is the best!

- Bruce, father of Division 1 Scholarship Big Ten Football Athlete

We love the influence you have in Damian’s life. Lucky mom!

- Jinny, mother of 2 times Division 1 High School State Tennis Champion



Beth and I sincerely appreciate your work with Daniel this winter, and the note that you sent out to the players that did not make baseball teams this spring was right on the money. Today, he hit what I would call a routine grounder to short and I am still amazed that he beat it out. I don't think he would have made it last year and while some of it is that extra edge I think not making the team last year has given him, I also know it was your work with him this winter.

Thanks for your coaching and your belief in my son.

- Chris and Beth, parents of JV Baseball player


You are very much a main part of Michael’s life right now. You may not realize the effect you have had on him over the past few years. His maturity and strength-of-self have exponentially grown over the course of his high school years

- Kyra, mother of 3 boys


 Thanks for all the time an effort you have put in to Drew’s training. Drew definitely enjoys training with you and trusts and respects you very much and for that I appreciate all you do.

- Dan, father of High School varsity Baseball player

To Be Great Do I Have To Leave My State?

  I have been working with a young athlete the past two years whom has really developed himself into an excellent soccer goalkeeper.

He was recently invited to spend a week with the US National Team in Bradenton, Florida. You would expect that this athlete has been specializing in soccer most of his life (16 years) and more specifically has been groomed to be a goalkeeper.

That is not the case. He only recently (within the last two years) converted to goalie after have been a field player throughout most of his soccer experience.

The evaluation from the folks with the National Team was that he just needed more “reps.” This makes sense considering his relative lack of experience at the position. I think it’s very important to note that he wasn’t told that he needed to get more athletic (stronger, faster, more agile/powerful).

This young athletes’ athletic development was as close to ideal as can be expected in the modern youth sport culture in America. He played multiple sports growing up and when he decided to stick with one sport (in mid teens) he learned how to play the entire game. Now he takes that diverse athleticism and knowledge of the overall game of soccer and applies it to his development as a goalkeeper.

To often these days not only do kids specialize way too early they also specialize within the sport and this is highly restrictive to optimal athletic development. Think of specialization as Saran Wrap on your potential and intra-sport specialization as a manhole cover!

This young athlete just needs more reps this will require great attention to detail and a commitment to put in the essential work. At 16 years of age with highly supportive parents this is well within his capabilities. However if he were told he wasn’t athletic enough that would have been a HUGE issue. At 16 in most cases that critical window of general athletic development is nearly closed and further improvements would be very slow to occur and would likely not evolve to the level required for advanced sport competition.

At the age of 16 he is at the prime developmental age to turn his training focus toward intra-sport specialization because… The foundation has been set! His overall athletic ability is firmly entrenched. Because of this foundation he has given himself the opportunity to maximize his sport specific skills.

If the movement foundation is built upon sport specific skills (often due to early sport specialization) it intentionally restricts athletic diversity, adaptability and movement exploration, and therefore, limits the ability to develop highly technical skills and athletic instincts (unrehearsed or spontaneous movement, those plays that make your jaw drop and force broadcasters to say “you just can’t teach that!”).

Physical Therapist and Athletic Development coach Bill Hartman summarizes this process expertly:

These limitations in athletic learning result in novel experiences on the field of play being perceived as threats and the nervous system will limit human system variability to perceived demands of the sporting activity as a means of protection. 

Limitations in human system variability (including movement) limit ultimate sports performance.

Early specialization is in direct conflict with the optimal long-term development of young athletes.

In other words limited athletic/movement experience (sport specialization) is like riding the brakes. It will dumb down a process that should be highly refined and instinctive and makes it robotic and slow.

   Another key element that must be acknowledged in the athletic development process is the quality of coaching.

In America our most skilled and experienced coaches apply their trade to the most elite of athletes at the Division 1 Collegiate, Professional and Olympic levels.

Meanwhile, volunteers who also have to manage the demands of a full-time job often coach young athletes. This is not a recipe for developing expert coaching skills. Skilled coaches are necessary for helping athletes develop highly technical sports specific skills.

I will use the example of the young goalkeeper. He has developed to the point where now he needs very technical coaching to take his skill to the next level. He simply can’t get the coaching he needs here at home. He must travel to Chicago to work with an elite goalkeeper coach and at best this happens one maybe two times per month. This is likely not enough to get the “reps” required to meet his goal.

So the family has to explore life-changing options such as moving to an area that has an elite athlete development infrastructure in place.

Am I saying that if you really want to become an elite athlete your family has to leave the great state of Michigan?

No! I am saying however that in Michigan we do not have an established elite athletic development infrastructure in place, yet…

Some folks are working on it but it will take some time. As always follow the money trail. Elite coaches deserve and should expect to earn elite salaries.  Only D1 Sports and the Professional Leagues have the backing to support those types of salaries.

In time hopefully we evolve to the point where as a society we deeply value the role teachers and coaches play in the lives of our kids and compensate them accordingly. Truly they are responsible for the long-term health and prosperity of our nation.

What to do in the interim?

The best strategy is to expose kids to a variety of activities and sports from a young age. We need to encourage multi-sport participation through the 10th grade. In the late high school year’s specialization can take place though it is not essential and it must have guidelines such as off-field training to counteract the sport specific demands while also encouraging diversity/playing multiple positions within their sport of choice. Additionally accountability, commitment and being a good teammate are best established at this point and we should be well equipped to serve as role models in this area of life.

If we don’t have elite coaches at the youth level we need to let kids play and discover what they are good at. We should give them general guidelines and teach them the basics and fundamentals of sport. We need to put our bias aside and realize there is no such thing as perfect form/technique and even if there is we probably aren’t skilled enough to know neither what it is nor how to teach it.

The young goalkeeper has not played the position long enough to establish poor habits/mechanics that need to be corrected.  He is like a clean slate. As a result when he gets the elite coaching he learns better because he doesn’t have any barriers to breakdown before he can move forward.

I have spent a great deal of time over my 13 years as an athletic development coach interviewing elite coaches and time and again they tell me that they want athletes! “If you give us a great overall athlete we can teach them the sports specific skills they need to excel.”

Swinging a bat, throwing a football or blocking a soccer ball is an act of athleticism. We need to give our kids the opportunity to develop a huge general base of athleticism so that when it is time to specialize they have the tools necessary to receive the elite coaching and transfer it to the field of play.


Closing thought

  If you coach young athletes or are the parent of a young athlete now is the time to invest in athletic/movement diversity. It will keep their bodies fresh and shield them against injury while also giving them the best chance at excelling on the field of play and in the game of life.

Author John Maxwell’s Law of Diminishing Intent says, “The longer you wait to do something you should do now, the greater the odds that you will actually never do it.”