Year Round Baseball and Early Specialization: STOP DOING IT!
If you're a baseball fan, you've certainly noticed the number of Major League Pitchers going down with Tommy John Surgery. On Monday, Jonah Keri of Grantland.com wrote this article on the rise of TJ over the past few years and the reasons behind it, the biggest culprits being year round baseball and specializing in a sport too early. First, let's start with year round baseball, which is very popular right now. Growing up, my friends and I played baseball from the time we were able. From the ages of 6-12, we played baseball in the summer time ONLY. If you were a good enough player, you played all-stars which usually ran an additional 3 weeks of summer and that was it. Done. No more baseball until next season. After that, it was on to football, soccer, basketball, track, whatever sport we were drawn to or our parents made us play. If you look at the current model, it has our youth competing in the spring, summer, fall, and even winter at "showcases" if you so desire. Now, going back to the age of these players and their bodies, they are completely underdeveloped and unable to withstand the rigors of that long a season. Take into account that pitching is the most violent motion in all of sports, we are staring at a recipe for disaster. It's not hard to figure out that if big league players (see: Grown Men) are playing 162 games a year, while still getting time off, and can barely keep themselves healthy, then what will that type of schedule over a full year with no time off do to an adolescent body that is woefully unprepared and flat out unable to manage that kind of stress effectively? The solution will be up to the adults. With the rise in dollars made off youth baseball, many facilities have created spring, fall, and winter leagues with showcases mixed in at all times of year. Quite frankly, most of those are money grabs and not in the best interest of the players. What's important more than ever is that we, as the adults in a position to lead, to do what's right for the players and start to fix the time frame that players are allowed to play competitively. I think we can get off to a good start with these few changes:
- Ages 6-12: Play summer leagues only. Don't be afraid to play local. You're not getting drafted or signing a college deal during those years. Sorry :/ No strength and conditioning. Play 2-3 other sports, it will give you a much greater training effect. Oh, and throw your XBox1080/PlayStation Mars in the trash. It's not making you better in any way.
- Ages 13-14: You're on the big field now! Spend your spring with school (middle school schedule is usually light especially here in the Northeast with our tropical climate...) and summer playing baseball. Don't be afraid to play another sport. Start a well rounded strength and conditioning program that makes you a better athlete and handles needs specific to your body. If you don't know what those are, find out by getting an evaluation!
- Ages 15-18: School ball and summer ball should be your main priority if baseball is what you want to do. Avoid fall and winter ball at all costs (including showcases).
Take a minute to think about this...When does a college coach have most of his free time? If you said summer, you're right!! No offense, unless you're a guy that's hitting 15-20 jacks in his high school season or blowing 90+, most coaches will do a majority of their recruiting in the summer time. During the spring, they're coaching their team. Same goes for the fall. Again, continue to train in a program that's getting at your problem areas while making you a better, healthier athlete.
*Side note: The only time we will recommend a player hop on a fall team is if he's a senior with no college interest yet. If that's the case, the risk then matches the reward. Otherwise, there's no need to make poor risk/reward choices.
Moving onto specialization. This is something we run across a lot. Parents want to get their kids started early with "baseball specific training." I can't tell you how many times we've turned people away because their kids weren't old enough to start training. And I don't say that in a negative way. I applaud parents for wanting to give their sons as much opportunity as possible, it's wonderful. Unfortunately, when kids specialize in one sport at too early of an age, parents are really investing in the long term harm of their own child. As you can see in the groupings above, we really don't like guys to start getting going in the gym until their at least 13. The same can be said for pitching lessons. If we take a player who is very immature physically, make him more efficient at throwing the baseball (most violent motion in sports, remember), and then he starts to produce forces his body cant handle, we have a great model for a sore arm.
The point of illustrating these two issues is to bring more awareness to potential problems that are causing the rise in arm injuries. I suspect we will see more injuries as the generation of fall and winter ballers continue to make their way through the ranks. If we can start at the youth levels with these two adjustments, we can take a rising injury rate and turn it around. It will start with adults in baseball to start making the best choices in interest of the players, not dollars. Time will ultimately tell us where our passions lie.
CKP Baseball Update
-Sean Coyle, 3B Portland Sea Dogs (Red Sox), went 3 for 4 with a HR, 3 RBI, and stole his 3rd and 4th bags of the year. Here's a clip of the #Truthy HR over the Maine Monster in Portland. Follow Sean on twitter @SeenCoyle
In light of the truthiness....
-Brody McFadden, RHP Pennsbury HS Junior, went the distance against Truman HS, allowing 2 runs on 4 hits, walking 2 and striking out 8. Here is the write up. Follow Brody on twitter @brodmcf13
-Riley Mihalik, 1B Springside Chestnut Hill Academy Junior, is off to a hot start after going 7-14 with 2 doubles, 4 RBI, and 5 walks. Follow Riley on twitter @Mihalik_24
We will be back with more content as the weeks go. Be sure to check in tomorrow live at 11 AM for our interview with special guest Cory Aldridge of the Salt Lake Bees! We spoke about the mental side of hitting last week and with Cory on board this week, we are going to dive into the right things to do with your swing on the physical side, you won't want to miss it! Thanks for stopping by!
Kurtzy
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