For good reason, too. Pay attention to who the teams are picking.
“For years we tried to convince baseball players that playing with rubber bands & throwing weighted balls was the key to performance.
While there are still some on the scam bus, it’s refreshing to see so many coming around, realizing you can’t get around strength.
It’s required.”
-Ray Zingler on Twitter
I know not all are paying attention to what baseball organizations from Youth to Pro are after in the modern game because the flashy matrix still has it death grip on those who refuse to be convinced by logic. But here is the truth:
They aren’t picking the kids who “throw strikes” and “put the ball on the ground” anymore. They can tell you all day long that they will, but they aren’t. Just look at the kids who made the top tier 15u travel ball team, who the Colleges are signing, and who the Pro’s are drafting.
They are picking the bigger, stronger, faster guys who throw hard and hit bombs.
It’s because if guys have the foundational platform with raised floors and ceilings, these organizations know for damn sure refining the mechanics is actually the easy part.
In a race, I’d rather have a V12 that needs a little tuning than a perfectly running 4-banger, especially knowing how to work on the V12.
But using the analogy comparatively to baseball, we have a bunch of 4 cylinders that are trying their damndest to keep up with the 12s, but obviously don’t have the power to do so.
So what do they do? They try to refine what is already running as optimally as it can. They overtune the 4 cylinder which eventually leads to (continued) slow run times and blowouts.
They’re doing all the nuanced work, the weighted balls, the crossover symmetry bands, and the latest and greatest exercises their “coach” got off TikTok still to no avail (self-awareness works well, here).
And now in theory, these exercises with weighted balls and bands are actually very good.
The (massive) problem, though, is that many are using these tools as their primary modalities and don’t have the strength or power required to actually make the use of these tools effective.
Again, they’re trying to optimize what has already been maximized (4cyl.) instead of understanding they need to upgrade to a V8, 10, or 12 to keep up.
And what a blessing it is that many are starting to understand this.
The shift in “baseball training” culture over the last few years has been refreshing.
We’ve got baseball dudes in our gym training like monsters and it’s showing itself on the field.
Remember, truth and success will always leave clues.
