@cabbagedad posted:I've heard the "running is stupid for baseball" and "running is stupid for punishment" arguments for years. I'll counter.
1. I will agree that sprints are better than long runs for baseball. That said, running (mostly sprints), agility and other cardio are still very useful. True, a player isn't typically going to run very far during a game but lack of cardio conditioning shows up late in games and late in seasons often in the form of fatigue, injury and lack of energy. All affect play. One example - a fielder busts it a few times after balls in play defensively and then comes in and has a weak AB because he's still a bit winded. Agility - quick first steps and good lateral movement make a difference in ways that I hope would be obvious.
2. Let's assume for a minute that a good coach utilizes some combination of instruction, praise, encouragement, reward and yes, sometimes discipline/punishment. Think about this. When it is time for the latter and you have a team at the field, there just aren't that many options when you want to make the point and get back to the business at hand. That's why running tends to be the go-to.
I would genuinely be interested in hearing better realistic solutions when discipline/punishment is in order under those circumstances.
Running, sprinting, agility are all useful - when they're programmed properly.
How many coaches know that if you want to work on top speed, you need to be fully rested before the next rep? How many of them, instead, are having them run 60 yards, waiting a minute or two and going again?
How many coaches know how to program acceleration vs top end speed?
How many coaches know that if you want to work on these things, it would be best done at the start of practice (when fatigue isn't a factor), not at the middle or end?
How many coaches know how to blend this with what they're doing in the weight room?
If the answer to those is that they don't because it's not their area of expertise, then perhaps they shouldn't do those things. I'd argue that should be done outside of practice time (in the weight room), so they can focus on getting better on the field.
A lack of cardio or conditioning should be addressed in the weight room during a cardio session and not spent with a coach trying to guess if the player is running at an RPE 6 for 30 minutes, because again they're probably not going to get it right, and now the player is gassed (which isn't what should happen when working cardio) and has accumulated all this unnecessary fatigue.