Whether it is remote or in-person, colleges across the country either already have or are about to kick off the new school year. School getting started means fall baseball is not far around the corner. An important thing to keep in mind when getting back into a normal baseball routine is a proper ramp-up.
Due to the craziness of this past calendar year, players are all over the map when it comes to their readiness to compete. While some players played a 60 game summer schedule, others were stuck inside under strict quarantine regulations. Some attacked each day with an intense throwing, hitting, and/or training program, and others may have slacked off a tad. Although it is not the coaching staff’s job to hold back the well-prepared, it is most certainly the staff’s job to ensure the health of each and every player. In order to promote the health of the 35+ guys on a given roster and especially the 12+ pitchers on a pitching staff, a deliberate and precise ramp-up to high intensities is necessary.
Some of you who may be accustomed to acute to chronic workload ratios and program on-ramping may be wondering what, if anything, makes this year so different from any other. Well, this time around, due to all of the question marks surrounding a student-athlete’s ability to train or play during summer, coaches will be required to ramp up everything, not just throwing.
Historically, many college programs get right into their strength and conditioning programs in parallel with on field training with no real hesitations. While a little crazy to think about, depending on what part of the country they live in, some players may not have not been able to step on a field or a weight room since March. This may present a bit of an extreme case, but any player who had limited to no access to a field or training facility is operating at a significantly higher injury risk.
To put this into perspective, Matthew Posner et al’s research shows that the majority of baseball injuries occur in the first month of the season (1). Steven DeFroda’s research team similarly found that from 2007-2014, 62% of UCL tears occurred within the first 3 months of the season (2). When the big leagues are operating on a set schedule every single year with predictable activities, they are obviously expecting their players to come in ready to go. However, in light of the findings in the studies referenced above, there is a disconnect or a gap in what actually constitutes “ready”.
I hypothesize that the increased injury rates early in the season and steady decline in injury rates as the season progresses are due to over exposure to high intensity workloads early in the season before the body has acclimated to its new stress levels. This is in line with the underlying principles of acute-chronic workload ratios.
Players may throw or train a few times, and think they are ready for games because the velocities, speeds, and metrics all came right back after just a couple workouts. However, even though the one time or acute results may have returned to normal measures, this does not mean the body is ready to handle this type of exertion on a regular basis. Workload ratios need to be developed over time. Whether it is in regards to throwing, swinging, running, or jumping, poor exercise design and/or drill management can certainly lead any team down a dangerous path.
This year, coaches have the unique opportunity to take total control of the process. I am assuming many schools are in the same boat as us at Eckerd, and are being forced into longer periods of individual/small group work. I use “forced” loosely in that last sentence, as longer periods of small group work allow us to put a greater focus on the individual student-athletes rather than the team as a whole. We can then keep better tabs on daily exertion through counting throws and recording velocities as a surrogate measurement of torque and arm stress. Additionally, swing volume, weight room loads, and max effort sprinting should be monitored closely. Simply keeping track of daily numbers/repetitions is a great place to start.
As you customize your on-ramp protocol for all aspects of baseball performance, I would encourage you to progress slowly and focus on quality over quantity. Let’s face it. Your players and coaches will be anxious to get after it, but no matter what anybody says, a meaningful baseball game will not be played until February. We have 5-6 months to build our players up to where they need to be. Consequently, I do not recommend taking the high repetition approach, especially without a proper ramp-up period.
Instead, focus on the movement, a specific goal, or the overall quality essential for laying the ground work for a strong and healthy season. With this approach, athletes are still free to operate at 100% intensity, but the intensities are governed by drill/exercise specifications or rep limits.
Here are a few examples in various fields of development covering varying ranges of specificity:
In regards to max effort sprints, the entire first week should remain under 5-10 yard sprints. If guys have not been sprinting at 30-60 yards consistently, moving at 100% over that distance is begging for a hip flexor or hamstring flare up. Shorter distances prime the muscles for the movements we are focused on and still force the body to work with max power, albeit, in a safer range.
In the weight room, slightly higher reps or longer times under tension over the first weeks allow us to keep the weight lower with high intensities. This could include an isometric lunge hold for 30 seconds or an eccentric dumbbell bench press. Although this type of training is not the best way to train explosiveness, athletes will regain the sport specific mobility and muscle recruitment they need to lay the foundation to become better baseball players as explosiveness training increases.
Managing hitting is simple. Many college hitters take well over 700 swings per week. Over the course of a roughly 9 month school year, that really adds up. Limit the swing totals early and avoid any weekly increases in swing totals by over 10%.
For throwing, higher velocity is the number one predictor of higher elbow/shoulder torque in an individual (3). Use a radar gun as much as possible to gauge effort levels. Counting throws is crucial as well. Much like hitting, avoid more than a 10% increase in total throws from a week-to-week basis.
In this week’s post, I covered on-ramping on a more general basis. Without getting too deep into the weeds on any particular area of player development, it is important to recognize that training at high intensities without allowing for proper time to build-up increases injury risk. By learning what areas of baseball development put athletes at potential increased injury risks, coaches can easily mitigate the risk by monitoring efforts, manipulating the stimulus, or controlling rep totals. Whether it is throwing, running, lifting, or hitting, we are all excited to get back into the groove with our teams back on campus. However, coaches can decrease injury risk and build their players up for a long and healthy season, all by starting with a proper, well thought out on-ramping period.
Thank you for your time.
Adam Moreau, MBA, CSCS
Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator
Eckerd College
419-250-7243
References
1. Posner M, Cameron KL, Wolf JM, Belmont PJ Jr, Owens BD. Epidemiology of Major League Baseball injuries. Am J Sports Med. 2011;39(8):1676-1680. doi:10.1177/0363546511411700
2. DeFroda SF, Kriz PK, Hall AM, Zurakowski D, Fadale PD. Risk Stratification for Ulnar Collateral Ligament Injury in Major League Baseball Players: A Retrospective Study From 2007 to 2014. Orthop J Sports Med. 2016;4(2):2325967115627126. Published 2016 Feb 1. doi:10.1177/2325967115627126
3. Jonathan S. Slowik, Kyle T. Aune, Alek Z. Diffendaffer, E. Lyle Cain, Jeffrey R. Dugas, Glenn S. Fleisig; Fastball Velocity and Elbow-Varus Torque in Professional Baseball Pitchers. J Athl Train 1 March 2019; 54 (3): 296–301. doi: https://doi.org/10.4085/1062-6050-558-17
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