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Preseason Baseball Conditioning Ideas

Many players choose to rest their bodies for a period of time following an intense summer/fall season. As the calendar year turns, it's a good idea to begin ramping up baseball activities to prepare your body for evaluations and eventually a long and healthy summer season. During the spring months, we want to make sure you take the time to keep your body in shape so you're ready once the baseball season starts. Here are some ideas to continue to develop your game throughout the summer months, using very little space.

Arm Care / Throwing Routine:

3/4 minute jog to warm up

4/5 Stretching routine to include your shoulders, arms, forearms, trunk and legs. If you're looking for a video on how to warm up your shoulders, this is one option:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M2Kj-iBXPc

10  minutes - Throwing progression - wrist snap, upper body rotation, rocker throws, and move into long toss if you have the space. As you stretch out into longer distances, we want to throw the ball with an arc to a partner. Then, as you move back closer together you can throw the ball on a line (no arc). "Arc it out, line it back."   

Here is a good video demonstrating some of the concepts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85HarYOV5JI

Use the space that you have and try to throw 3-5 days per week during the spring. Not every day has to be done to full exhaustion. Rotate days when you try to throw hard with days focused on form and low velocity. As you progress, you can add more throws. Week 1 may be focused on 40 throws, then week 2 is 50 throws, week 3 is sixty throws. If you experience pain at any time, then rest for a day or two before continuing to throw. The idea is to keep your arm in shape and build some endurance. Don't sacrifice your season by overdoing it in April.

Post-throwing exercises can be very beneficial to ensure a strong shoulder and you can use bands, small dumbbells or plyocare balls. Here is a video with good shoulder strengthening exercises:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UZEAhb-Sj2c

After any workout, finish with some cardio work to build endurance and leg strength. 

Defense:

Wall ball drills with tennis balls (these can be done in driveway, or basement) are a great way to work on hand/eye coordination and footwork.  In these videos, you'll notice the player's proper ready position each time and proper footwork when getting ready to make a throw:   

1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5IpBcelz18

2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8CYedB69qU

Here is a good video for infield drills that will help develop soft hands and proper footwork: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQsV2QWjhOM

Hitting:

Here is a good video demonstrating hitting drills to do by yourself.  Some require a tee and some do not: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouMN8MvgIqc

We use a significant amount of tee work in our winter clinics. Here is a good video of Freddie Freeman demonstrating proper technique for hitting off a tee in case you need a reminder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBGjLcNTbLw&t=2s

If you don’t have a tee, you can always do “dry” swings (no ball, no tee), but try to get in at least 50 swings per day. 

We hope these drills give you some ideas for ways to stay in shape to be ready for the start of the baseball season. We look forward to seeing you soon.