Offseason downtime

When my son saw a physical therapist for an injury, he was told ideally 8 weeks without throwing is what is best for you. He said you can still hit and ideally build muscle strength in other ways. My son is going to hopefully take at minimum 6 weeks without throwing and he will work on everything else. He pitches but he is more of a position player so he will take infield/outfield without throwing, workout and run.

Son played his last game Sunday, started his offseason workout with a couple of buddies yesterday.

So, I guess 24 hours.

No time off for us -- he will continue to participate in baseball conditioning (in school), weight-lifting every other day or so (not very intense) at night, pitching lessons (bi-weekly), and hitting on Saturdays as soon as possible. His throwing will be somewhat limited --- as weather permits. He needs to gain 10 lbs and pick up .1 or more in 60 speed before February ------ want to avoid the SO "jinx" <-- strictly a Sports Illustrated manufactured phenomenon, eh?

Our fall was low-key so there is little risk of burnout.

May spend the time between Fall Season and Spring season getting some much needed hitting lessons for my son. Need to start him concentrating on SAT's. And the school offseason program will take care of the lifting and throwing. May hit a few camps/showcases if the weather cooperates but no organized pitching lessons or games..........

And I will spend the offseason looking for my rosary beads as I know tryouts will be tough this year for all with as many talented returnees we have and with 75 freshman coming out for tryouts........after years and years of watching these boys play baseball, sitting in the stands with the parents it will be tough on all..............wouldn't want to be in the coach's shoes come cut time...........

ttt

we try to get our pitchers some rest from throwing in september. We do not pick up a ball in class until late october. I know the kids throw in fall games but we limit there throwing in class and we try to limit the throwing in the fall games to 2-3 innings. This is a time we throw other guys and we might find another kid that could help us in the spring.

We want them to follow our long toss program for the next 5 weeks. Then we will begin mechanics and flat ground work along with an over under weight program...


I think the best thing to do at this point is monitor the intensity carefully. With all this fall baseball it is very difficult to get a break.

You cant win in the spring if you dont have healthy arms...

My son will play his last fall games this weekend and after that he will do weight's and running in baseball class. Other than that he'll do pitching lessons every other week for the rest of the winter.

PD - My son's pitching coach also said mine needed to gain 10 lbs so any ideals on how ya'll are going to try and put the extra weight on?

My son doesn't play fall baseball. Their are alot of players out there that need to gain muscle and strength, which is hard to do if you continue playing year round. The fall is used to get bigger and stronger.

My son played last game on Sunday and he plans
on a couple of weeks off then will have
pitching and hitting lessons until spring.

After reading some of these posts it is real clear why Tommy John surgury has surged among youth and high school age kids.

Strength and conditioning yes, but for goodness sake give these young arms some rest.

quote:

Originally posted by crawdad:
After reading some of these posts it is real clear why Tommy John surgury has surged among youth and high school age kids.

Strength and conditioning yes, but for goodness sake give these young arms some rest.

Why do you say that? Not one person said that their kid was going to have a rigid throwing regimine this winter. In fact, the most any person has posted was taking a lesson once a week.

We were thinking in terms of 6-8 weeks of no pitching. Picking up after the first of the year, starting bullpens again. This would give a couple of months to get ready for the spring season.

His baseball class includes strength training twice a week.

In referencing crawdad's "accusation" of sorts -- I wonder if there is actual hard evidence that ties the increased frequency in Tommy John surgery to off-season throwing programs? Seems to me there could be many factors -- starting with the fact that kids begin playing so many games at an early age. Or perhaps it is inadequate conditioning for some (not throwing enough during the off-season), leading to a "rush" to get in throwing shape. Most schools scrimmage live less than 10 days after the first official day of practice.

I agree with Kellerdad -- nothing posted here cries out, TOO MUCH!!!!

I have seen a tendency among some players to "cram" for tryouts. They do little or nothing until a week before tryouts, then they go nuts trying to get ready. Often they go into tryouts with a tired arm, & a few weeks later have a sore arm.

quote:

Originally posted by Texan:
We were thinking in terms of 6-8 weeks of no pitching. Picking up after the first of the year, starting bullpens again. This would give a couple of months to get ready for the spring season.

His baseball class includes strength training twice a week.

This is EXACTLY what I am advocating - 6-8 weeks of not picking up a baseball but still participating in strength and conditioning all during the year.

There are too many parents scared to death that if their son takes a break from throwing that they will lose a "competitive edge" compared to other kids. A kid can now participate in tournaments and showcases 12 months out of the year. This is borderline insanity.

I have to wonder how many of the parents pushing for this ever played the game beyond little league much less high school. If they did they would realize the importance (physically and mentally) of taking a break from the game at least for a few weeks during the winter.

It is a FACT that Tommy John surgury is soaring among younger players. It is a FACT that parents are increasingly pushing their kids to play year round. Are the two related? Everyone has their opinions I guess. But I do know that no one thinks that their kid is going to get hurt by too much work - that kind of stuff happens to someone else.

Bury your heads in the sand if you want to but I think from the responses my post got that I maybe I hit a little too close to home for some.

No, crawdad, what you did was throw out a stat that has no bearing to the people that posted in this thread.

Throwing a half an hour once a week is not going to bring on Tommy John surgery any more than not throwing for 12 weeks and then going into the season with no work.

There is NO proof that throwing once a week thru the winter is detrimental to ones arm. None.

this issue has been debated before.

every one should get some time off.
Like I stated last time pro players take time off of baseball and go hunting or fishing and dont pick up a ball for a long while.


Our society has kinda lost track of what is going on. Thes high school kids are being tugged in to many ways.

1. high school coach- if he does not have flexibility then the kid could be ruined real fast

2. select league coach- throw on weekends only which i think is very bad. a kid doesnt throw all week and then he throws competitively for 6 or 7 innings. (assuming he does nothing during the week which alot of kids are guilty of).

3. parents- want the kid to go to college so they play him yaer round with no rest.


pitchers need rest period...

According to my son's pitching coach, there is some evidence that the majority of the professional pitchers come from the "north" portion of the country and the "hitters" come from the "south". It is making him reassess his pitching lessons. He recommended a break of some sort for us, probably 6 weeks or so anyway.

I am unsure of the so called line that separates the regions, but I am sure Texas is in the "south" portion.

a scout once told me that texas produces pitchers and they go to the domincan republic to get the hitters.

Maybe it is a knee jerk reaction but I respect his opinion and will follow his advice. You know what they say about opinions, I just threw mine out there.

I agree with crawdad that at least some time off is necessary, and by time off I mean not picking up a baseball. I had the opportunity through my team to talk to Mark Teixeira and we asked him questions about his off-season program. He said he takes a full month off from any baseball activity, including weights, after the season is over. Then he starts a light lifting program and a light hitting program, and builds that up gradually until season rolls around. He stressed the importance of an actual off-season without any baseball activity rather than the "off-season" we Texan's consider to just mean no games. Obviously he is a major league baseball player and plays 162 games over a five or six month period, but he still suggested at least two or three weeks of no baseball after the season is over. He also mentioned that if you do choose to play or do lessons and workout year-round, it is a good idea to take a short period of time off every couple of weeks. He gave the example of not doing anything over Thanksgiving Break or Christmas.

that is a great point.

I totally agree

Hope you good folks of Texas would not mind some input from WV.

Each player is different on what they can tolerate; this has as much to do with their mental make-up as well as their physical make-up. But I honestly believe especially for pitchers that players do not take enough time off. Mine is a position player and when the season is over and he comes home, he does not touch a baseball or do anything (weight lifting, agility drills, eye training), absolutely nothing for at least 4 weeks. Once that time has past, he will start with weight lifting and conditioning, in the mornings and then in the evenings we take ground balls and BP swings.

Each week he will continue to add to the time he spends doing each activity. When he 1st starts back he will lift weights and do conditioning 3 days a week and hit and take ground balls 2 days a week. His weight lifting and conditioning will eventually go to 6 days a week. His ground balls and hitting will increase to 5 days a week until he leaves for his season.

O42

Ctiger, We moved to DFW from Corpus about 4 years ago. There were some very talented kids that are now Juniors and Seniors. Do you know the status of any of these kids
Ryan Duke - Calallan
Shawn Hoelsher - Calallan
Trey Hernandez - Robstown
Rudy Grande - ?
Brock Millet - Carroll
Scott Garza - Carroll or King
Josh Salazar - Moody

Thanks,

Lynn V.

duke is a stud pitched in the state tournament and won as a soph

hoelscher is good as well both on varsity
trey hernandez is one of the better players on robstowns team

Millett is still trying to crack the varsity he has alot on his platter with band

gotta go to class i will get back to you on the rest

Offseason downtime? Time to takes those dreaded SAT and ACT tests. Get the college apps in NOW. Study hard and get your grades and class rank. Yesterday I got a letter from Angelo State with details of their Carr scholarship. How about $3 or $4K for academics? Lots of schools have similar packages for good students. When baseball gets going in Feb it is so hard to get time for those tests and raising your GPA. The time is now!

scott garza is at king played jv last year

rudy grande-should be at miller but he is at moody started in cf for them last year but didnt hit it that well but played great defense for them

josh salazar- dont know about this kid

quote:

Originally posted by ctiger:
...should be at miller but he is at moody...

Is there anybody playing for Moody that is supposed to be attending Moody?

that is a very good question

i can come up with one or two i guess

you said not me

Saw Thebeau pitch at the A&M Maroon vs. White the other day. Wasn't he was one of yours?

He had a nice outing.

i hear he is doing very well