Sometimes good baseball coaching means pulling on the reins

The beginning of February is when a lot of teams start kicking their off-season workouts into gear, if they have not already done so. It’s an exciting time of year when the baseball equipment comes back out and ball meets bat again.

Be careful though. Remember the saying, “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” It’s good to be excited about the start of workouts but be careful not to have yourself or your players peak too soon.

I remember hearing this for the first time when I was working out one off-season with several major league players from the Philadelphia area. My first spring training was approaching and on several occasions the major leaguers cut the workout short and just left without hitting. When I asked one of them why they didn’t hit every workout, they responded that they wanted to be “ready” for spring training but didn’t want to “peak” until the end of spring training.

Another saying in baseball is “The only day a baseball player is at full strength is on opening day.” That’s because after that, aches and pains are the norm until the last day of the season. If a player has a good few months before their body starts to really feel the wear-and-tear then it becomes important to delay when that “full strength” day comes. A player can (and should!) workout a bit during the season to maintain some of their strength but it will never get back to full strength.

Most young players do not have the experience to manage this themselves. I certainly didn’t. That’s why it becomes important for coaches to build in breaks along the way so that most of their players’ strength is saved for the season. It’s easy to jump out of the gates and get caught up in the excitement of the new season and being back in practice mode but the work you make your players do now might backfire at the end of the season when they have run out of gas.

The best jockeys are the ones who know exactly how and when to hold their horses back and when to let the horse go.

The best baseball coaches do the same with their players.

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