October 2024 ENewsletter

Play Games, Year Round Baseball, Ice Your Arm, Get Rest As You Only Have So Many Rounds… AARGH!!!!

There is SO much information that is out there for baseball players and their parents, and not all good. Slick marketing for this showcase, you need to play in tournaments to be seen, win a ring for participating in tournament after tournament, the more you play games the higher your USSSA ranking will be in CA, or any state you play in. (USSSA actually has rankings for 5U “Travel” teams).

When is enough truly enough.

Last month, and the last several, I have written about how important training and development is to making a baseball player better.  In order to attain a certain skill then you have to re-enforce that skill over and over again. That skill can ONLY be developed in a training and development setting, NOT GAMES!

Sadly, we had to cancel our Elite Pitcher’s Boot Camp this year for several reasons. However, one of the biggest reasons was because players chose going to a tournament then participating in a life altering experience geared to bring the best teachers in the nation here to Santa Clarita to give knowledge, hope AND a plan of action for the next year to improve where that player currently is in their path to baseball greatness. I was specifically told that said players had a big tournament in Arizona as part of what is USA Baseball’s Fall Classic, with the promises of coaches being there and playing good competition. These players actually bought into their coaches request to be there for this tournament as opposed to an amazing weekend of training and development with the Texas Baseball Ranch and their master teachers.  

To say I was stunned would be the understatement of the year but sadly it is where this generation of players and their families are heading towards, all in the name of baseball. To make matters worse, many of those players were totally disappointed in the tournament as the heat took it’s toll on many of them.

Being around the game as a player and coach for over 5 decades now, I am devastated to see where the game is going towards. Games over development. Most of my readers here can see the same thing in everyday life. Social media presence gets you to possibly become BIG almost over night and then, sadly, it is a big crash soon after. Fast food meals instead of sitting down as a family for dinner. 

It is just not baseball, it is everywhere. But it doesn’t make it right. Personally, I sacrifice a lot of family time to do what I do in helping players achieve their hopes and dreams in baseball. I miss out on having dinner with my wife and daughter, as I missed that time with my sons when they were still in HS and before. I respect those people who trust in me spending time with their sons and it is a role I cherish and do not take for granted. But there has to be a change in our baseball culture to help more players get to the highest levels of the game.

College baseball is changing right before our eyes with roster limitations. Many, many players will not go to a big university to play over the next 10 years because of the rules with scholarship allotment and such. Which means, players have to look to smaller schools to go study and play, which means grades in the classroom become even MORE important to play in a more small college where academics become the focus.  

I am hearing more and more of my highly academic baseball players going to smaller schools to get a good education. This makes me so very happy for them, they realize baseball is a vehicle to get them in the door to college where they can play the game and prepare themselves for their future careers outside of baseball.

Which is why training and development is so important. If you are reaching certain levels such as higher throwing velocity better control of all their pitches, AND to stay healthy that can ONLY be reached by training and development. Playing in game after game after game will NOT allow you to get better. Games are truly just a process to access where your training and development is on an everyday basis.

It is important to trust those who are in the ‘know’ when it comes to the right path in baseball. A player asked me tonight about thoughts on icing your arm. I asked if he did, and he said he iced his arm after games. I confidently told him why icing is BAD for pitchers and after I told him, he thanked me and said he didn’t really want to do icing but other people told him to do it. No reason for it so he just iced his arm, by the way, with the backing of science, icing your arm will actually slow down the process of recovery and put your arm at more risk down the road.

It is the same thing with those new kinetic arm sleeves that players where. It is supposed to help your arm but it is nothing but slick marketing that allow people to purchase them. Nothing about the sleeve will help issues that you may have with a sore arm, maybe not play so many games after taking time off?

All in all, I can save you a lot of money spent in different areas. I can give you my thoughts on college recruiting services and how it is a big money grab for ‘agents’ who promise to get their son into a college. That is a whole other conversation.

I am here as a means to get honest answers about many different things about the game of baseball, all the items listed above, but if there is one area that I know that I am right about and have pursued this with much passion and vigor to help others as much as possible. By all means, I am here to help.

Please allow me to help your son in his baseball pursuits.  

Until next time…

Jim