Scott Belger wrote the following: However I noticed you dog Baseball from time
to time. Most Baseball comments are blanket statements and not true for most
Baseball coaches and/or Baseball organizations. Good observation Scott, perhaps you could contact the commissioner
of professional baseball and ask him if you could help with their drug program.
Just kidding. You are spot on with your comment, except you failed to notice
one thing; all my comments are directed at professional baseball, especially major
league baseball. I feel very confident when I write on professional baseball. I
am in close contact with the sport and spent many years pioneering the efforts
to institute systematic conditioning in professional baseball. There are more conditioning
coaches and athletic trainer than ever before, less being done and minimal
results. You can look at on many different levels. Injuries are more serious
and more frequent than ever before. Player have their own trainers, doctors and
therapists because in many cases the people the clubs hire are either
ineffective or incompetent. I know that one prominent agent takes care of every
aspect of his player’s physical and medical care. He can’t trust the clubs; the
players are too valuable to him. John Q. Fan led by the Baseball Prospectus
type of stat freaks have bought into the “Moneyball” myth and it is just that,
a myth. How do you factor injuries into the equation? Is not the number one
goal of any program to put the best player on the field more often? From 1987
to 1996 as Director of Conditioning for the Chicago White we had a model
program. Players in the minor leagues were required to train, the major league
player were fully compliant because Steve Odgers took the time and effort to
give each player individual programs. It was an athletic development program
not just a strength training program. We tested each spring training and developed
a physical profile for each player based on the testing. We had a pitchers biomechanically
analyzed and their programs tailored to their needs. We had worked out the cost
per injury for each player and could predict the amount of down time for each
injury based on our records. I was sent to evaluate potential high draft picks
before the draft. We had an annual pitcher and catcher mini-camp every January starting
in 1989. This was a comprehensive model based on the systematic sport
development model prevalent in amateur sport. It was very successful but
abandoned because it took an incredible amount of work and commitment on the
part of all concerned. I was hired by the Mets in 2004 to begin to implement a
similar program but when they saw the commitment necessary they balked. Too
much work and you would make the players uncomfortable.
So Scott this was a long winded
rant, but I know of what I speak about professional baseball. Many of the
current strength and conditioning coaches in baseball have no idea that they
are just trying to implement thing that we did as a matter of routine twenty
years ago! I just heard that MLB is
either considering or instituting a combine before the draft, maybe they should
consider talking to those of us who did that years ago. I have nine years of valid
and reliable test data that includes predictive factors of success at the major
league level.
My time in professional baseball was both incredibly frustrating and incredibly rewarding. I know that we were able to change the paradigm in a very traditional sport for a brief period of time. That experience was jumping off point for my career. This was not a solo effort. I got to work with some great coaches administrators and teachers. The model we developed has worked in many other sports both amateur and professional. I want to remind everyone that it takes an incredible commitment, to develop a system and make it work, it is not for dilettantes and the faint of heart.