Expectations Before a Player First Arrives On Campus

My son Lifted three/four times a week at the HS. and did Long toss on the off days. He did play summer ball as well with his 18U team. He expected to be mainly a pitcher with some position play going into his freshman year. His 18U team did not do a lot of practice, the purpose of the team was to get the players ready for college by getting a lot of live at bats and pitchers seeing the mound as much as possible.

Don't show up over weight and expect to run a lot when he first gets there. 

Make sure he knows how to get himself out of bed at 5:30 in the morning.  May sound trivial, but this one trips up a lot of freshman baseball players.

They will work full time plus in college. Even though he is working I would not let up on his workouts or conditioning during the summer. Most freshmen are pretty surprised by the workload.it is sometimes overwhelming.

Can he take any online summer lower division classes during the summer. My son took one class every summer, enabling him to have a lighter load during the spring season.This may really help especially if he is doing a tough major.

Just food for thought, our son was at a very expensive college, he was on a good scholly  but not 100%.Taking summer classes at a JC or online can save you money in the long run as well.

I am shocked that the baseball department does not have a lifting program for their incoming freshmen. If the baseball coach does not have one then contact the school strength and conditioning coach and get one from him. If this does not work then scour the internet and find one that fits his schedule. There is no reason he can not workout after work or before, and on weekends. My son did it last year and he was able to lift, throw, hit in cages, and play two ways in a Sunday league working full time. 

Distance running does nothing for baseball players, he should be sprinting a couple of times a week as well as his lifting program at least three days a week. 

2014Prospect,

I think your son should ask the Head Coach or Strength and Conditioning Coach for a specific workout routine that should help him prepare for position competition in the Fall.  Simply telling him to "run, lift and bat" is not doing him any justice....his workouts need to be focused for his position.  He needs to show up in the best shape of his life and ready to win his position.   A bad freshmen Fall can set him back a year, and send the wrong message to the coaches.  

Nothing is going to prepare him for the Fall, but he'll want to minimize the physical transition from high school to college baseball.  It is a bigger and faster game played with bigger and faster players.  Good luck!

fanofgame,

Taking summer classes at a JC is a great idea; I hope our son can do this with his scholarship requirements.  Our son's scholarship does state that he has to pass a minimum of 15 credit hours a semester with a 3.0 or above; I wonder if they would count classes taken over the summer or cleped classes toward that 15 semester hours.  I will have him check at the school.  We did have him sign up for a pretty tough load this fall in hopes that he can take some easier classes this Spring (math, two science classes with labs, english).  We also had him take a job this summer so that he would not have to  balance a work study job next school year with everything else.

Thanks for the suggestion on the workouts.  I was afraid that might be the case.  He usually lifts three times a week for an hour, bats at least an hour a day and works with a trainer twice a week for an hour, so it is a minimum of two hours a day plus he is also playing games for his 18U team.  This may be great preparation for what is to come in the fall!

Justbaseball,

Our son does have an aversion to early mornings, so I see the wisdom in your advice!  Maybe we should encourage him to lift before work this summer, so that he can get everything in and learn to wake up at 5:30!  The baseball coach set our son up to room with three other baseball players, so hopefully they can all help each other with the early mornings!

BoF and Fenway,

Thank you so much for the advice!  In high school there was no lifting program, our son just met a bunch of guys in the weight room and they did whatever they thought was best.  I will have him contact the strength and conditioning coach at the school for a program so that the lifting is more focused. 

Our son is working himself back from a serious injury that happened last fall, so I assumed that was the reason that he was told to run (he was pretty fast before the injury).  I will encourage him to spend time sprinting, he has been running distance since the injury.

Whatever you do, do not get hurt lifting or running before you arrive.

I am surprised that a college program does not have a summer workout and expectations sent out in an email to all of those who have signed their NLI.  My daughter's softball program did this.  Every player that I have coached in baseball who went on to play college ball has received this from their schools.  If your son has never lifted, you need to check out strength and speed instructors in your area.  He needs to have some general knowledge of how to properly execute various lifts prior to getting to college.  While you may expect that the college strength and conditioning coach will take care of this, your son will still have that first day/week where they are doing the testing. 

As an FYI, my daughter has her expectations in hand for her expectations on the first day testing when she returns from summer break.  I'm betting that those of you who have sons playing in college have the same. 

He needs to show up rested and in the best physical shape possible. Chances are, he's about to be subjected to the most rigorous challenge of his life. It begins VERY abruptly and is going to pit him against older teammates who have a competitive edge.

My son is in for a rude awakening.  Why don't I have any sympathy? Instead all this does is make me want to smile.  Dads just have a different perspective.

 Sounds good to rest or spend time making money, but players don't get better unless they play against better players.

Don't know your son's talent level etc., however a position player that shows up at college that hasn't been taking ab's against quality competition will find himself seriously behind the competition.

FWIW while the coach did not provide specific instructions for lifting/conditioning this summer, I am amazed at the way that he checks up on/organizes his players.  Our son received a text a couple of weeks back from the coach asking if he had signed up for Freshman Orientation (he had not) so the coach told him to get it done so that he could register for classes.  Our son signed up for orientation that day and the next day an advisor from the school called saying she had been asked to register our son for classes over the phone.  The coach also coordinated our son's dorm assignment all while the team was playing in the regionals.  My guess is that the coach assumes that our son should already have a good lifting routine (and he has been lifting, I am just not sure that it is the way that that the school's strength and conditioning coach would have him lifting).  What a job to keep track of 35 players at a time!

Son is a 2-4 transfer having signed a NLI for a D2 last week.  The D2 coach sent a 35 page workout manual for him to do over the summer.  His JuCo coach really didn't have much of a workout schedule for him to reference.

It'll be interesting if he can get much training done as he is working and taking 11 summer credits to wrap up his AA degree.

My son's college coach's told him when we asked about this that they do not give out programs before the student is officially enrolled because if they do they become liable for injury's occurring during recommended training.  They were purposefully very vague about how to prepare.

My son just recieved an 8 week workout program from his coach.  He knows that he better do it.  It will be pretty easy to see who has and who hasn't been doing it when they get to campus.  He's going to a small NAIA school so it shouldn't matter what size school.  The Texas Rangers off-season program can be found on-line as well.

Most programs send an 8-10 week work out schedule. PO Jr received a 36 page daily work out that included every aspect of training, with time goals as well.

When he showed up in August they were tested. Then they ran a lot the first 30-40 days in 100+ weather. By the time fall ball started he had lost 28 lbs.

Make sure he shows up in the best shape of his life. Most programs require 5:30 lifts for position players, pitchers go later at his school.

As for the academics, make sure he uses all the resources available. Make sure the advisor knows he's a ball player and his travel schedule for spring. Front load harder classes in the fall, lighter schedule in the spring and an online class for summer. He will most likely be playing summer ball somewhere, so it's doable.

Good luck!

Son has workout program from his S&C coach as well as sport specifics training from his HC.  Also throws, hits, plays basketball and plays a rigorous summer ball schedule.

And eats a ton!

My son had his 1st school visit and while the coach was telling us about the workouts, running, weight training... 530 am wake call, etc... I was thinking he is not signing up for the

ARMY is he...?? 

This is nothing to compare to HS workouts...time to get ready for the next level..

Good Luck!

Joe

Regarding the post about distance running not having anything to do with baseball, the problem is that many, if not most of these schools will have a time expectation for a mile run.  I recall one school saying that they used to have a "7 minute mile" and then rethought that to a "6 minute mile."  For some that might not be tough.  For others, they might need an "8 minute mile" depending upon how much distance they have been running.  My daughter will have a "7 minute mile" requirement when she reports in the fall along with other timed expectations.  This past weekend, she stole 3rd base and said some sarcastic remark that one of her timed objectives will be easy.  LOL

If I could point out one more thing, many schools will give a few days to "settle in."  However, that is not the case that often.  We had my daughter "practice getting up early."  Why?  As we know, many teens sleep in during the summer and then, they are being measured and competing for starting spots during those workouts.  Something to think about. 

Coach, if you are running sprints, in sequence for cardio loading, and doing lifting as well as other types cardio you can run a mile for time no problem. My son only did sprints, lifting, and lots of  rowing for cardio and went out and ran a sub 6 min mile without ever having run over 120 yards all summer. He was personally shocked he ran a 5:40 mile but he did it. 

Your right about getting up early toward the end of the summer. 

BOF, I don't disagree.  My daughter's experience was different.  She had a speed/conditioning coach for the summer before reporting as a freshman and the mile run killed her.  It was around 100 degrees and the infamous St. Louis humidity probably had a role in that.  My daughter is working out now in her summer workouts and is doing distance as well.  Her reasons are different now.  She lives in fear of "punishment" which coach assigns them to when teammates mess up.  Last year, she almost died doing one.  She/team had to run 2 miles, swim a mile and then do a timed mile.  She went under for the swim via leg cramps.  One teammate is a lifeguard during the summer and went in to get her.  Thank God!

Are they Tri-Athletes or softball players? 

Outstanding comment. Sadly, coaches continue to show their ignorance by making baseball players (or, in this case, softball players) run distance (and, apparently, other distance training). Players, if you know your college coach requires a timed distance run, train the absolute minimum that is required for you to complete the run in the allotted time. And know moving forward that your coach is clueless about training. I've said it many times here and I'll say it again, long distance running is completely pointless - and, quite frankly, really stupid - for baseball training.

BOF is right - most people will increase their VO2 max and general fitness levels enough during baseball-specific training in order to complete these ridiculous tests coaches give. CoachB25's post is good as well, in my opinion; in highlighting the fact that players need to be prepared for many different varieties of obstacles thrown at them.

Good posts, looking forward to reading along.

EDIT: I'm well aware that coaches that have their players are probably reading along to this thread. The adjectives such as ignorance, clueless, stupid, and ridiculous were used intentionally. If you're one of these coaches and those words bothered you, good. Please do some research.

Could I ask what distance and frequency you guys would recommend for sprints?  Our son is no longer running distance for PT.  Our son's current workout routine is weights three times a week for an hour (no lifting program, so he works on one muscle group each time as recommended by his trainer/strength & conditioning coach, i.e. legs, back, core etc.) works twice a week for an hour each time with a strength and conditioning coach, and bats daily for a couple of hours a day.  None of this happens at 5:30 am!  As I read this thread I am worried that he may not be as prepared as he should be.  It sounds like the first workouts freshman year are a shock for the incoming freshman.

I don't know the entirety of my daughter's workout but I do know that she has to run uphill as a part of her workouts.  We have an uphill grade (Not steep)at an area around our highs school and I think she gets 25-30 in after doing some other agility drills.  Don't forget the agility drills.  Some might call this cone work but a lot of what my daughter does does not involve cones. 

Find a track couch and he can get you a routine. They do "overs" and "unders" based on the ideal distance which for sprinters is the 100M.

I don't remember exactly but my son worked up to doing 10x100's with a minute or two rest in between. When he did overs he ran 120's. Then one day he would do a combination of 20's and 40's. His track couch actually had him practice starts like he was coming off a base and do 10X of those as well as band enhanced. 

There are a number of exercises to help increase speed, which is I assume why you mentioned sprints.  Some are core (planks), some are sprint techinique (bounding, starts, running form), and some are running (interval training, resisted/assisted running, sleds, parachutes, etc).

I would recommend the book Training for Speed, Agility, and Quickness and have a look at the following

http://www.stack.com/2013/04/0...seball-conditioning/

http://www.stack.com/2013/10/1...all-speed-exercises/

should get you started.

Thanks for the suggestions! I think it is time to enlist the help of our son's HS track coach since most of this is over my head as a non-athlete

That could work.  There are also lots of speed & agility guys starting to crop up - I hear about college athletes home from summer working with small groups of HS age kids for a reasonable fee.  Your son's strength and conditioning guy may also be able to steer him toward the right routine.

That sounds like a great idea Cabbagedad.  We will check in to it.

In addition to the advice that has already been offered I'd like to suggest another thought in the context of the question.  I've run into 4 college bound athletes (or parents) in the last week at various events.   3 are headed to public ACC schools and the other to  a mid-major D1 program.   All of them are working out per their trainers recommendations AND taking summer college classes to get a jump on the MAYHEM they know will come down on them at the start of school.  Smart kids.   I wish my son had the opportunity to do something like that but his school was very restrictive in transferring credits except for AP classes which he determined was not to his advantage at all.  They want you to learn it their way (and of course pay some $$ along the way)..  There seems to be a much greater opportunity to transfer credits at a public university than a private university.  My advice would be to take advantage of it if it is an option.

Keewartson knows several players that are reporting to college soon to take a class, and I am sure get in their workroom.  However, they are all pitchers.  

FWIW - I really like the dual enrollment option better than AP for certain classes.  I am almost positive keeartson's AP tests won't count.  I just can't imagine starting as a freshman with Organic Chemistry!  ouch.

Fenway,

I want to start by saying that we are brand new to this process, so we have so much to learn, and appreciate all advice!!  Tuition here is free for in state students (room, board, books are not free unless covered by other scholarships) but there is a requirement that in order to remain elibible for free in state tuition, a student has to earn 15 credit hours a semester. When our son was on campus a couple of weeks ago to take a math placement test, I asked if he could apply credits earned over the summer, or the six hours of credit that they granted for our son's ACT scores to the 15 credit hours required to maintain his in state scholarship, and they said neither would count toward the required 15 credit hours.  We are now wondering if taking a CLEP class during the spring semester would count. 

The dual credit/AP classes are great, but we chose not apply for the credit for these classes because we wanted our son to ease into college classes with easier classes for the first year.  It did not work; they placed him in 200 level classes based on ACT scores, math placement test, and major.  I hope he is ready for the fall I know he is going to have!

Totally understand the dilemma.  You may want to push a little on that situation to see if you can get it changed.  This was the reason we didn't want AP credit for Calculus, Physics, Chemistry or Spanish even though he scored 4's or greater on each.  Also, his private university would not allow him to transfer (about) 12 dual enrollment credits.  He just decided to roll with it.  He knew the classes would be hard soon enough as everything was graded on a student curve.   In addition, we made the assumption he was an average student at a highly competitive university. No reason to make it any harder than it already was.

High school students take these AP & dual enrollment classes for different reasons.  My middle son is at a very good state school and he was able to transfer almost 15 credits from dual enrollment at his high school.   Both my middle son and oldest son took AP classes as a way to separate themselves academically during the admissions process.   But once you are admitted there is this little game you have to play with Admissions depending on the public or private nature of the school....at least in our experience.

Hats off to those recruits that can get some academic credit under their belts before Fall baseball starts.  You'll be so glad you did.