For the first time in exactly a year, I hopped on the golf course with a few friends this past weekend. In case anyone is curious, we did our best to follow CDC guidelines as we wore our masks any time we went in the clubhouse, and we maintained our distance on the course – which was easy to do since we mostly scattered balls everywhere but the fairway.
As I laid in bed Sunday night reflecting on my weekend, I thought about how ragging on one of my friends who is way better than me for being average and consistent applied all too well to player development in baseball. Every time I play with this guy he shoots somewhere between 84 and 88, and it has been the exact same for three years. Not to mention, he is an avid golfer, probably playing nearly 50 rounds per year. I came into the clubhouse with a grotesque 95. So, why did I make fun of him? I kept telling him my floor is lower, but my ceiling is way higher. Why do I say this? When I drive the ball in my intended direction – “intended direction” being the key phrase – I hit it roughly 40 yards farther. I birdied two holes; whereas he did not birdie a single hole. In regards to poor performances, he went into one hazard; whereas I went out of bounds 3 times and into water once.
Relating this back to baseball, if a scout were evaluating us, I would be labeled as erratic with tools that translate to the next level if I could become more consistent. My friend, on the other hand, would be labeled as a nice little consistent player with no chance to play at the next level or make any material improvements. While he valued safety, I went for it all. He played not to lose; I played to win. Although to this day, he has played more golf than me, and he values consistency, every time I get on the course, much to my own dismay, I try to go for greens, hit as far as I can, and do the things I see on TV. I am attempting to play at a level that I am not yet prepared to play, while my buddy is stuck within his comfort zone.
Training for baseball is incredibly similar. Baseball is a game of consistency, but at a certain point, the level of consistent performance is no longer good enough to meet the standards of the next level. This is a problem that most players face with each level they advance in the game of baseball. I remember two incredibly vivid jumps in my own career from the time I identified it was pro baseball or bust – the first, the summer after my freshman year of college, and the second, my last summer of collegiate baseball. During each of those times, to get where I wanted to go, I was forced to look beyond traditional performance metrics and look towards my goals. My performance metrics no longer mattered because the player I was did not match the player I needed to be to reach the next level.
This can often be a tough pill to swallow at any level. The moment a .300+ contact hitter realizes that .300+ contact hitters with no power are littered across college baseball. There are one to two on nearly every team. Nothing is wrong with being the contact guy, but unless it is paired with blazing speed and elite defense, above average contact hitting does not project to professional baseball.
Contact guys are often the model of consistency. At the college level, they produce a lot of hits and help win a ton of games. I was that guy for a long, long time, until I realized that with my average tools, I did not do a thing to wow any scouts. Consequently, I shifted my focus to elevating my ceiling. As opposed to avoiding failure, I became okay with the occasional swing and miss. I tried to leave the yard and mash doubles. Singles were the enemy. Did it work? At first, not at all. I took my lumps. Over time though, I became comfortable with higher intent. Going big became easier. And whenever I needed to dial it down to stay alive in a crucial late-inning at bat, I could. Turns out dialing it back was much easier than turning it up, which makes a lot of sense.
Through all of these examples, I feel it is time to get to the nitty-gritty. Training comfortably and training to maximize performance are two incredibly different approaches. They feed different stimuli. Training comfortably does not encourage continued development. Granted, in comfortable environments and/or training at controlled effort levels, some positive adaptations can be made, but not many. On the other hand, training at higher levels of intent or in uncomfortable situations, such as varying constraints, warrant much greater gains.
I understand it does me no good to give a long-winded observation without offering any suggestions, so here go a few:
1. If you have access to a Blast Motion sensor or another swing speed gauge, set a swing speed floor for a round. If a player’s swing speed drops below that floor, cut the round off right there or enact some sort of penalty. I suggest rounds of 5-8 total pitches to avoid turning maximally explosive hitting into an endurance workout.
2. Instead of taking regular batting practice, boost up the stimulus with higher velocities, mixed pitches, or even both. Compete from there by keeping track of hard hit balls. Exit velocity metrics can help, but are not necessary.
3. Do not be afraid of a velocity day as a pitcher or hitter. Whether it is throwing velocity or exit velocity, these two important metrics can be tough to apply in game. At first, separate velocity goals from strikes thrown for a pitcher and hits for a batter. As players become more comfortable training at high levels of intent, slowly integrate these velocity days into simulated or live situations.
I am not as good at golf as my buddy…yet. However, my ceiling is higher because I train and practice with the goal of shooting under par. My scores are a long way away, but I refuse to accept average. Accepting average is okay, but in regards to development as a player, comfortable training is unlikely the best approach if the goal is to project to the next level. Comfort does not raise the ceiling. Training outside of one’s comfort zones is where the biggest developments take place. With higher intensities and through training beyond the comfort zone, players will continue to raise their performance ceilings.
Thanks for reading, and hopefully by next week, I post a score below 84 and can talk trash to my buddy with good reason.
Adam Moreau, MBA, CSCS
Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator
Eckerd College
419-250-7243
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