Why do many baseball kids not lift at all/end up doing old man physical therapy as "training"?
-Extreme quirkiness of what dictates success genetically in the sport allows many to be successful-on their level-without being remotely strong, fast, or explosive. Example: the many pitchers you know that throw somewhat "hard" from extreme genetic shoulder range of motion, but couldn't beat your little sister in a fight.
-First impressions of lifting/training derived from seeing the big scary high school football players lift.
-Older generation (their parents) outdated and inaccurate perceptions of training based off living during the 1980's bodybuilding/steroids craze ("It'll make you bulky!" "It'll make you inflexible!" "Don't get too big!")
-General sloth where many baseball kids find standing in line to take a ground ball every 2 minutes "tiring", and training represents having to do an activity not involving their iPhone.
These factors conspire to leave the vast majority of baseball kids slower, weaker, and less athletic than their comparable peers in other sports; simply put, the average baseball kid puts little to no real effort into their physical training, and with subpar velocity and can of corn power, fail out. So only the talent climbs the ladder.
It’s like when we had a kid who started 82mph and at a tiny Division 3, get up to 92-94. While he had no issue garnering multiple D1 offers and accordingly transferred, every coach we talked to had the same questions: why was he at a Division 3? Where’d this velocity come from? They all assumed late bloomer, growth spurt, etc must’ve been the reason for the huge jump. No, we had to explain repeatedly, he just went from super weak to very strong and athletic. But that’s an absolute anomaly in the baseball world. Even the known baseball “top trainers” who actually do preach physical improvements, simply babysit kids who were already Pro talent. No one goes from Point A to Point B. And that’s why what we do: hardcore training, in an intense environment, correctly done for the particularities of the baseball athlete (ie the shoulder), is long overdue.
