Is Baseball Made to be Played in 110 Degree Weather?
Baseball in Southern California is a year-round sport. I don’t think anyone thinks any different about this statement. Little League runs through August, High School playoffs ended about a week or two ago, the College World Series starts this week and will go until the end of June, and of course, it is the start of summer ball for all of the above whether it is showcasing, travel/select tournaments, or youth players getting ready for their Little League, PONY tournaments and lastly, but certainly not the least, traveling to Cooperstown for a 11-12 right of passage into the world of being a teenager.
And quite honestly, there is nothing too wrong with any of the above, especially Cooperstown, but the majority of High School summer ball might literally be one of the worst type of baseball that goes on from June-August. And there are a number of factors that go into this thought process.
First, college coaches RARELY if EVER show up to these summer showcases any more. It is a waste of their valuable time as well as their coaching staff to go to see a team play somewhere hot, Phoenix, Vegas, among other places. After talking with several college coaches who are friends, the number one thing that high level D1 schools want to see is physical size, athleticism, and tool sets that stand out like the ability to handle all pitches well, exit velocity and for pitchers, command the strike zone with a top level secondary pitch and velocity that is north of 90 mph. I mean sitting 91-94 topping out at 95-96.
These areas eliminate 99% of players who go out and play all the time and who don’t work at the development of their game. As difficult as this might seem, coaches don’t want to see players play in tournament after tournament.
Second, once high school classes start up again then coaches start practicing for the entire school year, meaning that once your summer schedule ends you are moving right back into practicing again. This leaves players with no time to get into better shape, work on the development of the skill set they need get better at, build up their condition and strength. In my opinion, a player is seriously missing the boat in terms of getting better and noticed by playing games all the time.
Third, playing game after game after game creates imbalances within a player’s body. If you are a right-handed dominant player then you are only doing one directional type movements. Players have to stay balanced and do as much for their left side as much as their right side. Injuries tend to happen after a long summer of games. Plus mentally, players want a break from all the games that they think are helping them out.
Players then want to take a break but practicing will begin all over again. When is there time to work on the physical aspect but the mental aspect as well? I would rather train, train, train then be hungry for games after an entire summer of development work THEN to play game after game, get no development in, then start up with practice and games again but realistically just not get better at all.
For me and the 55+ years involved in this wonderful game of baseball as a player and a coach, development always trumped games. Parents know that growing up in the 70’s, 80’s and even early 90’s that players played multiple sports, played wiffle ball games all the time, rode our bikes and skateboards all the while not realizing until recently that that was OUR development into baseball. The switch has completely flipped and not for the better.
My point isn’t for doom and gloom as much as it is to educate parents and players of a sure fire way to get truly better on a consistent basis.
Our Throwzone Summer training class still has openings for this type of training for pitchers. Classes started this week but anyone can join whether it is our older players, or beginning next week our camp start for youth players. Go to www.throwzone.com for more information on how the maximize your hard earned dollar and turn it into something more for the development of your player.
Until next time…
Jim
Jim Wagner's ThrowZone Academy 