A staple in the daily health routine of almost every adult, the daily multi-vitamin is a key piece in knocking out basic nutritional needs in just one or two pills. These vitamins are an essential part of an individual’s health and wellness routine, and are the perfect way to get the day started. Certain drills, movements, or exercises provide the same value in baseball as well. Just as a doctor recommends a daily vitamin, a coach can recommend a specific drill, or drill set, that gets a player ready for the day. I believe with the proper prescription [baseball] vitamins can provide each player with an uplifting boost to start each day on the right path.
Picking the right vitamin depends on the player and objective. The idea is to use them for activation and/or preparation. Additionally, vitamins should be relatively basic and low on both mental and physical strain. For example, dang near every baseball team in the world uses catch play as a vitamin. It is a part of their daily practice or game prep, nearly every player does it at the same time, and it is often performed at the front end of practice. There are certainly ways to advance catch play or add specific nuances to it, but at its core, catch play provides general prep for a specific task: catching and throwing.
But there are ways to further individualize catch play to act as a true preparatory exercise for the day without making it too advanced or overly drawn out. One way to go about this is to make it position specific. Catchers can set up in their various stances at different angles in order to simulate throws to any of the three bases. Infielders can work on different ground ball routes, double play turns to force different arm slots, or relays to get the footwork down. Outfielders can make quarterback drop back style throws to simulate an over the shoulder play or throws with their glove starting on the ground to simulate a ground ball. By incorporating this into daily work, there is less of a need to carve out a grand chunk of time for it during practice.
From what I can tell, many programs do something similar to what I described above when it comes to throwing; however, I feel there is a greater gap when it comes to either offensive or defensive vitamins. Instead of having guys run right out to their positions for fungos, or take mindless tee or toss reps in the cage, a simple but direct preliminary plan can go a long way in preparing players for the day.
When it comes to infield defense, I believe it is important to get the feet and the hands moving and working. I recognize that there is nothing scientific or revolutionary to my previous statement, but it offers the actions I value most in defensive prep. Take a look at the videos below for an example of my defensive vitamins.
First in the short hop clip, the goal is to practice both receiving as well as pushing through based on hop identification. I recognize it won’t be perfect given the short distance, but it promotes reading hops before getting whole body movement involved, allowing the player to focus on hop recognition and receiving.
In the four rounds of three rolled balls, you can see we knock out 12 reps relatively quickly and are able to simulate multiple ground ball styles and hops. At this stage, we added movement into the equation along with hop recognition and receiving.
My outfield approach is very similar to the four rounds of three for infield defense. The main difference, as you can see below, is receiving a tossed fly ball instead of a rolled grounder.
As mentioned previously, the concept of daily vitamins can be utilized offensively as well. That being said, identifying the proper vitamin prescription for each athlete is critical. By assigning hitter specific preparatory drills, coaches can help guide players towards effective movement patterns, good kinematic sequencing, and/or a proper and efficient swing. Below are examples of a few different player specific vitamins.
In the first video, you can see the baseball pinched between the hitter’s top hand bicep and forearm forcing him to focus on a body dominant swing rather than a hand dominant swing. Previously he struggled with his hands casting away from his body and a pushy swing due to a very forced opposite field approach. With the goal of trying to hold the ball in his arm as long as possible, the pinched baseball forces his hips, torso, shoulders, and arms to work in that order sequentially, delivering the bat more directly into the hitting zone. It also encourages a hinge at the hips for ball height adjustments, rather than an arm adjustment.
The second video displays something I refer to as no-roll swings. The hitter (me) previously struggled with a flat or even downward attack angle, making it more difficult to achieve consistent solid contact. To engrain a better path, the no-roll swing enforces an upward path through the ball and a high finish. The no-roll gets its name by preventing wrist roll at contact. One of our cues is to try to finish with the barrel pointed at wherever the ball should be hit (i.e. barrel pointed at right center for a middle out ball to a righty). I recognize that it won’t be perfect, but this initial feel emphasizes the movement necessary for the specific player’s success. You can see the change I was able to make from the first swing to the second.
The third video is sequence focused. In the past he struggled with an upper body dominant swing, without great utilization of his lower half. With the daily progression shown above, he reinforces the sequence with some pseudo-isometric holds before taking what we call launch position swings. From there, he would then progress into full swings.
In review, there are plenty of ways to go about preparation for practice or a game, but the concept of vitamins, or a daily drill set, provides players consistency and allows them to feel confident about their progression. In these daily exercises, the goal is not to do anything too advanced, but rather to reinforce proper movement patterns or kinematic sequencing before getting into live actions or even higher effort repetitions. When prescribing vitamins, it is necessary to keep in mind position specific requirements (shown with the infield/outfield videos) as well as individual needs (shown with the hitter videos). Prescribed and utilized properly, vitamins assist in engraining the proper yet basic movements and actions required to perform at the highest level each and every day.
Adam Moreau, MBA, CSCS
Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator
Eckerd College
419-250-7243
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