By: Kathy Ryan-Ceisel, MHS PT
Overhead Throwing Specialist
Athletic Edge and Wellness
As the high school and spring baseball and softball season approaches, athletes must take the necessary steps to ensure they are physically and mentally prepared for peak performance. Proper preparation minimizes the risk of injuries and maximizes performance on the field. Here are ten essential areas to focus on when ramping up for the upcoming baseball season.
1. Nutrition: Fueling Your Performance
Proper nutrition is the foundation of an athlete’s performance. A well-balanced diet should include lean proteins, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats to provide sustained energy. Focus on whole foods such as lean meats, fish, whole grains, fruits, vegetables and nuts. Avoid processed foods, fried food, soda, and excess sugar, which can lead to energy crashes and sluggishness.
Athletes need to eat breakfast on a regular basis! If they can’t wake up 10-15” early to eat a breakfast, how do they expect to play well? A second breakfast/additional snacks may be needed on game day. Each meal shoulder include a protein + carb + veggie + fruit.
What to eat 2 hours before you hit the mound?
-banana and protein oatmeal
-pretzels and string cheese
-turkey sandwich and grapes
-cottage cheese and celery/carrots
-grilled chicken sandwich and apple
-greek yogurt and berries
-energy bar and orange
Pitchers and catchers burn more calories than other players because they require more energy for their position. A 183# baseball pitcher burns about 900 calories in 2 hours of play, while an outfielder burns about 600 calories.
Post Workout/Recovery
Post workout, athletes should pair a minimum of 25 grams of protein with 50 grams of fast digesting carbohydrates within 30 min of activity to reduce muscle breakdown and support recovery.
-peanut butter and celery
-protein fruit smoothie
-chocolate milk and banana
-grilled chicken sandwich
-hard boiled eggs and cherries
-jerky and grapes
-deli meat and nuts.
2. Hydration: Staying Ahead of Fatigue
Hydration is crucial for endurance, muscle function, and recovery. Dehydration can cause cramps, fatigue, and decreased focus. Athletes should drink plenty of water throughout the day and replenish electrolytes lost through sweat, especially in warmer climates or during intense training sessions. Colder temperatures decrease thirst sensation by 40%. Athletes should aim for 90-100 oz fluid daily with 8-10 oz upon waking, 16 oz 1-2 hours before activity, 20 oz electrolyte drink during competition.
3. Sleep: The Key to Recovery
Quality sleep is essential for muscle repair, hormone balance, and cognitive function. Aim for at least 7-9 hours per night to allow the body to recover fully. Establishing a consistent sleep routine, avoiding screens before bed, and creating a cool, dark sleeping environment can enhance sleep quality. Athletes who slept on average < 8 hours per night were 1.7 times more likely to have had an injury compared with athletes who slept > 8 hours. For each additional grade in school, the athletes were 1.4 times more likely to have had an injury.
4. Recovery: Listening to Your Body
Recovery is just as important as training. Incorporating rest days, mobility work, and strengthening into your routine is essential. Techniques such as foam rolling, massage, theraguns, and normatech can help reduce muscle soreness and improve circulation, ensuring your body is ready for the next workout or game.
Active recovery involves low-intensity exercises that help increase blood flow to muscles, promoting healing without adding strain. Activities like light jogging, swimming, yoga, or cycling can be beneficial for baseball players. This type of recovery helps reduce muscle stiffness and soreness while keeping the body in motion. These workouts should be 50-60 percent of your max effort and focus on the quality of movements and muscle activation outside the sport. Doing other movements keep the body more neutral and keeps you from getting stuck in a pattern that can cause injuries.
Mobility exercises are crucial for baseball players, particularly pitchers and infielders. Incorporating mobility exercises into your routine can help to maintain a full range of motion and prevent injuries. Focus on dynamic stretching before games or practices and static stretching during post-game recovery. Working on problem areas can help manage in season niggles (minor aches and pains) with your athletic trainer and/or physical therapist is key to prevent a small problem turning into a bigger problem.
5. Hamstring Strains: Prevention and Treatment
Hamstring strains are common in baseball due to explosive movements such as sprinting and sudden stops, with 33% of injuries occurring in the first 2 weeks back to sport. Being on the bench during a cold game and then getting up and pinch hitting or running without proper warm up can predispose an athlete for this type of injury. Hamstring injuries are most common in April and can take 4-6 weeks to recover. Hamstring are notorious for having a high recurrence rate, with studies reporting that between 12% and 63% of athletes experience a repeat hamstring injury, with the highest risk occurring within the first month of returning to play after an initial injury. Make sure to keep loose during those early cold high school games!!
6. Ankle Sprains: Strengthening for Stability
Ankle sprains are the most common sports injury, comprising approximately 15% of all injuries. Ankle injuries are also common in the spring season when field are wet and slippery and the outfield can be a landmine after the winter season. Don’t neglect proper rehab; as up to 40% of ankle sprains go on to develop chronic symptoms, including pain, swelling, instability, and reinjury that persists at least 12 months following initial injury. Furthermore, a study by Kibler and Chandler calculated that a 20% decrease in energy delivered from the legs/trunk requires a 34% increase in the rotational velocity of the shoulder/arm to deliver the same force to the ball. This means a simple ankle sprain can quickly lead to pain and impaired performance at shoulder/elbow.
7. Ramping Up: Gradual Workload Increases
Jumping into full-speed training without proper progression increases the risk of injury. Gradually increase intensity, volume, and workload over several weeks to allows the body to adapt. Start with lower-intensity drills and progress to more explosive movements as the season nears. There is no reason for players to be throwing 80 pitches in April. Workload management early in the season leads to long term success late in the season. Workload involves careful monitoring load (number of throws), intensity of throws, and capacity (throwing volume over time).
8. Bullpens: Building Pitching Endurance
Inconsistent weather and game schedule can wreak havoc on player’s arm health. Outside practice may be shortened, gym space may need to be shared with other spring sports limiting actual mound work. High school coaches may utilize pitchers in different roles than their travel ball season. Different roles (starters/closer while playing another infield/outfield position) can tax arms quickly. For pitchers, regular bullpen sessions help refine mechanics and build arm endurance. Start with low-intensity throwing and progressively increase velocity and pitch count. Incorporating proper warm-ups and cooldowns is critical for arm health and longevity. Often in high school players lack enough warm up and cool down due to time and space constraints. Players will need to own their bullpen routines.
9. Weight Lifting: Strength Training for Performance
Scaling back on heavy off-season lifting is needed. Avoid excessive heavy lifting close to game days to prevent fatigue. Lifting during the season helps the body to maintain the strength gains the player developed off-season.
Frequency
· 2-3 sessions per week is ideal to maintain strength without overloading the body
· Pitchers may lift less frequently due to throwing demands
Volume & Intensity
· Lower volume, moderate intensity (e.g., 3-4 sets of 3-6 reps for strength and power).
· Avoid excessive heavy lifting right before games to reduce fatigue. It is better for pitchers to lift following pitching as it is already a heavy work day.
· Use explosive movements (e.g., jumps, med ball throws) to maintain power.
Exercise Selection
· Focus on compound movements with baseball-specific considerations:
· Lower Body: Squats, deadlifts, lunges (lighter loads, focus on speed).
· Upper Body: Pull-ups, rows, dumbbell presses (avoid excessive overhead work).
· Core & Stability: Rotational work (e.g., cable chops), anti-rotation exercises, and planks.
· Shoulder & Mobility: Band work, external/internal rotations, YTWLs for shoulder health.
· Avoid eccentric heavy training.
· Avoid excessive forearm training.
· Avoid excessive push activities (bench press, push ups) and focus more on pull activities (rotator cuff and upper back work). This should incorporate a 3 pull exercises vs a 1 push exercise.
· Watch implementing new exercises with poor risk/reward.
Recovery & Timing
· Prioritize mobility and recovery work following periods of heavy workloads to prevent overuse injuries.
· Keep sessions efficient (45-60 minutes) to avoid excessive fatigue.
10. Fatigue is the Enemy
Pitchers have an astounding 36x more likely sustain a shoulder or elbow injury when pitching through fatigue (American Sports Medicine Institute, 2014).
Signs of fatigue
-Upright trunk at ball release aka “standing tall”
-Change in arm slot or angle
-Less reliance on the lower body and more reliance on the arm
-A drop in pitch velocity; a consistent 3-5 mph change in average velocity
-Increased number of missed pitches and/or pitch location
-Increased time between pitches
A recent meta-analysis from 25 separate baseball studies demonstrated a direct relationship between fatigue in baseball pitching, and three common factors: changes in kinematics, a decrease in performance, and an increase in injury risk.
IN SUMMARY
In summary, ramping up for baseball and softball season requires a holistic approach that encompasses nutrition, hydration, recovery, injury prevention, and proper training progression. By focusing on these areas, athletes can set themselves up for a successful, healthy, and high-performing season on the field.
If you have questions regarding an injury, arm care or performance, give us a call at 224-505-EDGE or visit our website at www.edge360wellness. com
Athletic Edge and Wellness, Illinois Baseball Edge and 1Top Prospect in Algonquin are your professional throwing partners in baseball/softball performance and arm care: We offer private and team instruction, velocity enhancement, command sessions, throwing form, coaching clinics, Flightscope video assessment, data analytics, physical therapy, performance therapy, normatech recovery, and collegiate recruiting under one roof. Come experience the difference from our pros in the field.
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