Winter is upon us. For many of us and our children this means other sports such as basketball or hockey. However for most of us involved in youth travel baseball, Winter is also a time of focused, individual baseball training. These programs can vary widely, and it is not always clear how best to approach these months of possible individual training. Here we review some of the data surrounding off-season baseball training, and offer some thoughts on some aspects of Winter training programs.
There are several aspects to consider for any off-season baseball training program: conditioning, hitting, fielding, and pitching basically encompass those considerations, with issues such as throwing/arm care overlapping between these broad categories. We’ll address these easy ones first.
Conditioning
USA Baseball offers some suggestions regarding the “principles of off-season strength and conditioning”, although the evidence supporting these suggestions is unclear. As stated on their website, the “main goal” of any off-season strength and conditioning program should be to 1) decrease risk of injury, 2) maximize sport performance, and 3) maximize career longevity. These seem plain enough, and to support these goals they make several recommendations. The first recommendation is “quality before quantity”, but they offer little in the way of specifics regarding what this actually means. They summarize this recommendation by writing, “Stick to the program, listen to your body and stay focused on your task.” Whatever that means for an 11 year-old, for example, in the context of winter conditioning, we are not sure. The second recommendation provided by USA Baseball is to place the “athlete before the player.” Here they suggest focus on development of athletic traits rather than baseball specific traits. Without specifics, we can only assume this means things like general body strength, aerobic conditioning, agility/speed, and flexibility. We’d contend cross training/playing other sports probably falls into this category as well.
USA Baseball does offer some helpful suggestions regarding specific drills to consider for youth baseball players. These suggestions are helpful, but more detailed, age-specific training programs would be ideal. To start, strength training, even in children as young as 7 years old has been shown to lead to strength gains across a variety of exercises [1]. Most importantly, resistance or weight training in even pre-pubertal children has not been associated with increased risk of injury or impaired growth [2, 3]. In that context, the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends a program consisting of, “one to three sets of six to fifteen repetitions performed two to three times per week on nonconsecutive days…Beginning with one or two sets of 10 to 15 repetitions on several upper and lower body exercises that focus on the major muscle groups will allow room for progress to be made” [3]. This appears to us to be very reasonable recommendation based on the available data. Neither USA Baseball nor the ACSM recommends sport-specific weight training in youth (<14 years of age) athletes.
In addition to weight training, the ACSM also notes that plyometric training can be a “safe, effective and fun activity for children and adolescents provided that the program is properly designed, sensibly progressed and supervised by qualified professionals.” Plyometric training conditions the nervous system to react more quickly to stretch-shortening cycle of the muscle. These types of exercises have been shown to enhance a child’s ability to increase speed of movement and improve power generation. In addition, according to the ACSM regular plyometric training in youth athletes has been found to decrease the risk of sports-related injuries.
Hitting
This is perhaps the easiest. Hitting is something that can be done year round. There is almost zero risk of injury, outside of the injury risk normally associated with hitting in a cage or against live pitching, and continued hitting offers the advantages of youth baseball players continuing to develop and improve their hitting skills. In light of this, hitting leagues, camps, instructional leagues/workouts have cropped up everywhere. Nearly every youth baseball player in the state has access to either outdoor facilities (which thankfully we can use relatively frequently even in the Winter in North Carolina), and more than likely indoor facilities nearby. Perhaps the only consideration when thinking about the volume of hitting your athlete(s) might do would be burnout. Overuse training has been associated with increased injury risk, although not for hitting baseballs specifically, and is associated with higher rates of burnout in youth sports. It is also why the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine has recommending limiting “yearly participation time [and] limits on sport-specific repetitive movements” [5]. Although specific recommendations regarding time off are not made, we feel it appropriate to listen to each child/athlete and let them tell you when they need time away from hitting.
Fielding
Similar to hitting, winter training for fielding is pretty straightforward. We will discuss throwing in the next section, along with pitching. As far as fielding ground balls, fly balls, or working on situation training, there are no recommendations regarding limiting this type of work, beyond what was mentioned above about overtraining. We also think it wise to consider training at multiple positions during the Winter. Very often, even at young ages, kids can get pigeon-holed into a single position. Consequently during the season they might only see practice and game repetitions at 1-2 positions. The Winter is a perfect time to work on fly balls for the kid who only plays second base during the season, or work on first base technique for the kid who only gets to play catcher during the season.
Pitching
Pitching and throwing is perhaps the most difficult aspect of winter training to get right for youth baseball players. For many, the kids will not be able to discern what the right amount of activity is. They may not develop a sore arm when throwing, and as I am sure many of us have experienced, they may even ask to work on their pitching or throwing. This has the potential to be very dangerous. The American Sports Medicine Institute issued a position statement several years ago and made the following recommendations regarding youth and adolescent pitcher training:
- Watch and respond to signs of fatigue (such as decreased ball velocity, decreased accuracy, upright trunk during pitching, dropped elbow during pitching, or increased time between pitches). If an adolescent pitcher complains of fatigue or looks fatigued, let him rest from pitching and other throwing.
- No overhead throwing of any kind for at least 2-3 months per year (4 months is preferred). No competitive baseball pitching for at least 4 months per year.
- Do not pitch more than 100 innings in games in any calendar year.
- Follow limits for pitch counts and days rest.
- Avoid pitching on multiple teams with overlapping seasons.
- Learn good throwing mechanics as soon as possible. The first steps should be to learn, in order: 1) basic throwing, 2) fastball pitching, 3) change-up pitching.
- Avoid using radar guns.
- A pitcher should not also be a catcher for his team. The pitcher-catcher combination results in many throws and may increase the risk of injury.
- If a pitcher complains of pain in his elbow or shoulder, discontinue pitching until evaluated by a sports medicine physician. Inspire adolescent pitchers to have fun playing baseball and other sports. Participation and enjoyment of various physical activities will increase the player’s athleticism and interest in sports.
Most relevant to this article is recommendation #2, which we’ve highlighted, stating that youth pitchers should take off at least 2-3 months, and preferably 4, per year with NO overhead throwing of any kind. In North Carolina with a Spring season that starts at the end of February and extends through mid-to-late July, and a fall season that starts in late August and extends through mid November, adhering to this type of recommendation can be exceedingly difficult, as this New York times article from 2009 points out. There can be pressure on all sides – from parents coaches, and even players – to continue to pitch in the Winter, to work on a new pitch, to fine tune mechanics, or to try and add velocity. However, the data is clear that it is the cumulative work load of throwing/pitching that imparts the highest risk with regard to arm injuries in youth baseball players [6]. Consequently, those of us in authority positions, namely parents and coaches, have to look out for these children during the Winter months.
Conclusions
The Winter is a great time for improvement as a player, however many of the kids are too young or ignorant to fully comprehend both the potential risks and benefits of off-season training. Our own personal view is that the Winter is an excellent time for cross training in other sports such as basketball, and focusing on improvements in general athleticism with strength training/conditioning, hitting, and fielding. We try to avoid nearly all baseball throwing, even while fielding, from the end of the Fall season to the beginning of our Spring practices (~3 months). This plan seems to be accordance not only with the recommendations of USA Baseball and the major Sports Medicine societies, but also consistent with the available data regarding off season baseball training in youth athlete’s. Feel differently or want to share your athlete’s training plan? Let us and other readers know with a comment below.
References
- Faigenbaum AD et al. (2002) Res Q Exerc Sport. 73(4):416-24
- Malina RM (2006) Clin J Sport Med. 16(6):478-87
- Faigenbaum, A. and Micheli, L. Youth Strength Training. Indianapolis, IN: American College of Sports Medicine; 2017.
- Faigenbaum, A. and Chu, D. Plyometric Training for Children and Adolescents. Indianapolis, IN: American College of Sports Medicine; 2017
- DiFiori et al. (2014) Clin J Sport Med. 24:3-20
- Fleisig GS et al. (1011) Am J Sports Med. 39(2):253-7