I would love nothing more than to be able to play h.s. baseball my senior year, and am willing to work very hard to make the team. However, since I've been homeschooled from 3rd Grade through my junior year, the last time I played baseball was in 3rd Grade. So I not have to figure out how to make up for 8 years of lost playing time and lost skill when compared to my peers who are on the h.s. team.
Physically speaking, I am as fit as the players on the team. I'm 6'0" and weight 160 lbs., most of which is muscle. I am currently lifting free weights about 3 times a week, and am also trying to get in some 1 mile runs.
I can easily deadlift my own weight and then some. I can squat a good amount, and can calve over 200 lbs. My legs are very strong. I'm working on my body from the waist up, which is okay but could be better. I can curld about 60 lbs. and bench 110 lbs--an amount that is rising steadily. I can also crank out quite a few crunches/situps. I am rather fast too. So physically, I think I'm in pretty good shape.
It's when it comes to baseball skills that I'm lacking, esp. hitting. However, to try to make up for the lost 8 years, I've devised a flexible plan from now until when non-mandatory practices and workouts begin in November.
In addition to my weight lifting and aerobic exercise, I plan to go to two different batting cages multiple times over the rest of the summer and into fall. I went to one today, for the first time in a long while. To say the least, I was terrible at first, but after awhile I settled in and began to make good contact. I got some good rips at 50mph and 60mph, but 70 was tough. All in all, I thought I did an okay job for being so rusty.
I plan to keep taking bp at the 60, 70, and 80mph levels. Once I get my swing and timing down, then I'm going to ask some of the h.s. pitchers whom I know if they'd be willing to throw some balls to me. I'll keep weight lifting and working on catching and throwing, doing long tosses with my brother and working on my accuracy.
Does this sound like a plan? Working out, combined with a lot of bp, including some bp vs. actual pitchers, with continued work on fielding? Maybe some soft-toss drills too, just to make sure I have my swing down correctly. Anything else I should be doing? Any input or advice, comments or questions? I really would appreciate some advice from actual h.s. players who've already made their teams.
Hoping that my situation isn't beyond hope!
Looking forward to some input...
Best to all,
Alex