Skip to main content

Good morning.  I have a question about reporting bench and squat max to baseball coaches/rc's.  My 2018 has size and strength/athleticism going for him.  I was wondering if (along with 60 time, exit velo, and throwing velo) would there be a benefit to reporting bench and squat max?  Or would it be too atypical and work against him?  Brief background: he is a corner guy and the other numbers (60 etc.) are fine, not off the charts.  2018 and I know standard bench is not used as much in baseball but squats are more useful.  We also know that is all secondary to whether or not the player can actually play. But in terms of catching the coaches' eye, would the bench and squat numbers help?  Would it help move the RC from glancing at the email to clicking on the video link?

thanks for any insight you might be able to offer.

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

I think highlighting bench press numbers will make the coach believe your guy hasn't been training with people who really focus on baseball specific strength and fitness training.   Nothing really against bench press, but it's not the most efficient means to train a body for baseball.  So why, even if your guy is a monster at the bench, would you want to emphasize that? 

Regarding weightlifting info in general - my 2016 competes nationally in USAW events and we included info about his lifting and national ranking in what we sent to coaches.  We didn't find that it helped much.  Prior to his visit to the school he applied to his travel coach sent the HC an email recommending him and giving an overview of his strengths - including the lifting info.  The HC emailed him right back so I know he read it.  They never asked about it during our meetings with the coaches.  

My take is that anything that draws interest can make a difference. If I'm an RC and I'm looking through emails and I see someone mention in their stats that they bench 230 lbs I don't blink an eye, so that is useless information. However, if the stat says "I bench 490 lbs." it still doesn't mean anything baseball-wise, but damn, I'm going to immediately take a look at any video because I want to see what a guy like that looks like. Same as if you put down that your IQ is 185 - it doesn't mean anything, but I'm certainly curious as to what a pitcher with an IQ of 185 looks like.

It could also be seen as negative I.e. Maxed upside. Strength is good if your power is the real deal but if you have big muscles and still not have great power they might think your power potential is maxed out. 

Scouts often love tall but "weaker" players who still already have some power because they project to be able to add on a lot of strength. Of course if you hit like Stanton that doesn't matter but I don't think that you want your raw strength to exceed your on field power.

2forU posted:

If your benching 490, you should be playing football and we all know pitchers don't have hi IQ's, that's what catchers are for (this is a joke so pitcher parents don't freak out - I have one of each)!

My pitcher son does really well handling the pressure of pitching, and it is certainly not from a high IQ!

Add Reply

×
×
×
×
Link copied to your clipboard.
×