PGStaff posted:One of our mission statements is to promote the game of baseball at every level.
A question...
Is baseball the only sport where leaders promote multi-sport participation?
Do the leaders in the NFL and NBA promote multi-sport participation?
In most cases at the HS level Football and Basketball are more glamorous sports, drawing the largest crowds. A good athlete will do well at most sports. But the truth is, reaching the highest level of any sport requires certain things. Basketball players at the highest level are amazing to me. I can't see any reason why playing baseball would make them better Basketball players. I can see a reason why playing more baseball would make them a better baseball player.
If it were possible I would tell every kid that is a decent athlete that he should play baseball. Heck, even those that are not good athletes, I would tell them to play baseball. If that happened baseball once again would be our national past time.
That said, I like multi sport athletes. But only if baseball is one of those sports. At the same time, I have no problem with those who want to specialize in any one sport, including baseball. Besides you don't have to play in any organized sport in order to do something different. I mean how many kids out there haven't shot a basketball or caught a football?
There are some disadvantages that baseball has that makes using multi sports a good option:
1) baseball is an unilateral sport that promotes body imbalances because you usually always right rotate to the same side, use the same arm for throwing and usually only back to front. Conditioning experts like cressey can testament that high level baseball players ( especially pitchers) have some of the worst dysbalances among all athletes, especially in the shoulder area but also hips and rotary muscles. Other sports can help fight that (but they are not the only option of course).
2) baseball is a pretty static sport at lower levels. You don't move around much at many positions until you move to higher levels. Also the action to waiting ratio is pretty bad (only 4-5 at bats and a couple plays) That means baseball is just not very effective in building many athletic traits. Again other sports are more effective building those traits needed for high level baseball. Yes you can also acquire those skills by using other drills but those are terribly boring and half an hour of soccer or basketball does the same and is a lot more fun.
Im not saying you need to play multiple sports though. If you train well and not just hit and throw (terribly one sided activities that are not healthy for the body) that works too, but other sports at least until age 14 or so are a quick and easy way to get athletic.
the most important thing is that you take those consecutive months off. Not saying it has to be November to January either, just make sure you do not throw for 2-3 consecutive months. If you take of September to November and start throwing in December a January showcase must not be the worst thing, what is bad and is to pitch until late October and then January again.
Maybe you could even pitch November and January if you take 3 months off in the summer, although I don't think it is realistic that a kid doesn't touch a baseball all summer.
playing a winter sport is just an easy way to develope athleticism, take out some of the baseball one sidedness and take the baseball out of a kids hands but it is not the only way to go, just the easiest and most feasible for most.