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The rash of injuries across the board, not just with the White Sox, got me thinking that the sport is doing something wrong when it comes to conditioning.
Back in the day (pre-streroid era) we did not see so many soft tissue injuries like we do now, especially all the Hamstring injuries. I will go out on a limb and say that the Hamstring is not a new evolutionary development for Human Beings over the past 20 years, and yet player used to rarely get the injured.
I think I know what changed. No, it's not steroids any more, they are pretty much out of the game.
It's physical conditioning.
Over the past few years, we hear about players, Lucas Giolito comes to mind, who hit the Weight Room in the offseason to get buffed up and "new body." Everybody oooo's and ahhh's at the newly buffed up players who did it without steroids.
If I was a head Trainer, I would lock the weight room and throw away the key. Baseball is a skill, not strength, sport. Pull up pre-1990's Youtubes of power hitters. With a few exceptions (Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, Babe Ruth, for example) the sluggers were skin and bones. Most of those guys were sending the ball out with skills, not brute force. NFL Linemen need brute strength for their job (along with skill), Baseball players do not. Go to Baseball Refence and pull up random sluggers from before 1990 and check out their height and weight stats, it is an eye-opener. Hank Aaron? 6' 0" 180 pounds.
The problem with the emphasis on weight training is that it puts a lot of unnecessary strain on supporting tissue like, oh, Hamstrings and ligaments. Weight training should be limited to light-weight training to maintain muscle tone, not bulk. Bulking up in the weight room also changes the way the player's body is able to use the skills. When Giolito was haveing a string of bad outings this year, some said his "new" body was not conducive for his skills since his skills developed with a leaner body.
How would I have my team get conditioned for the 162 game grind?
1. Yoga. It makes the body as flexible as it can be. I'm guessing if someone like Eloy did it, he would not be always one routine flyball away from the 60-Day IL.
2. Swimming and/or running. It gives the body the endurance to last 9 innings on a hot summer day and keeps all the muscles flexible and able to handle the work.
Bottom line: the high number of hamstring injuries in MLB is the Canary in the Coalmine that says they are doing something wrong. It used to me the only time we heard about hamstring problems was when a Running Back pulled up lame.
This would be the magic bullet for a healthy team.
Back in the day (pre-streroid era) we did not see so many soft tissue injuries like we do now, especially all the Hamstring injuries. I will go out on a limb and say that the Hamstring is not a new evolutionary development for Human Beings over the past 20 years, and yet player used to rarely get the injured.
I think I know what changed. No, it's not steroids any more, they are pretty much out of the game.
It's physical conditioning.
Over the past few years, we hear about players, Lucas Giolito comes to mind, who hit the Weight Room in the offseason to get buffed up and "new body." Everybody oooo's and ahhh's at the newly buffed up players who did it without steroids.
If I was a head Trainer, I would lock the weight room and throw away the key. Baseball is a skill, not strength, sport. Pull up pre-1990's Youtubes of power hitters. With a few exceptions (Frank Howard, Harmon Killebrew, Babe Ruth, for example) the sluggers were skin and bones. Most of those guys were sending the ball out with skills, not brute force. NFL Linemen need brute strength for their job (along with skill), Baseball players do not. Go to Baseball Refence and pull up random sluggers from before 1990 and check out their height and weight stats, it is an eye-opener. Hank Aaron? 6' 0" 180 pounds.
The problem with the emphasis on weight training is that it puts a lot of unnecessary strain on supporting tissue like, oh, Hamstrings and ligaments. Weight training should be limited to light-weight training to maintain muscle tone, not bulk. Bulking up in the weight room also changes the way the player's body is able to use the skills. When Giolito was haveing a string of bad outings this year, some said his "new" body was not conducive for his skills since his skills developed with a leaner body.
How would I have my team get conditioned for the 162 game grind?
1. Yoga. It makes the body as flexible as it can be. I'm guessing if someone like Eloy did it, he would not be always one routine flyball away from the 60-Day IL.
2. Swimming and/or running. It gives the body the endurance to last 9 innings on a hot summer day and keeps all the muscles flexible and able to handle the work.
Bottom line: the high number of hamstring injuries in MLB is the Canary in the Coalmine that says they are doing something wrong. It used to me the only time we heard about hamstring problems was when a Running Back pulled up lame.
This would be the magic bullet for a healthy team.
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