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I don’t know where the idea that pitchers need to be world-class distance runners came from, but it is complete and utter nonsense. Some cardiovascular conditioning for pitchers is beneficial, but not at the expense of power. According to research cited in the NSCA book, Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning, excessive aerobic conditioning has an adverse effect on power and strength. This means that every time a coach makes his pitchers run long distances, it is essentially subtracting MPHs from their fastballs and making them less effective.

Think this guy has a decent fastball? I doubt it.

Many coaches subscribe to the notion that “good” workouts end with their pitchers exhausted and on the verge of vomiting. Again, this is pure, unadulterated crap. The only thing these types of workouts are good for is breaking down the muscles in a pitcher’s legs and making them weaker. Good trainers and coaches will prescribe exercises that challenge the athlete but never make them ill. Read the rest of this entry »

Andrew Sacks is the site’s newest content writer.

To me, nothing is worse than being injured. For as long as you are too hurt to play, you are on the outside looking in as your team continues on without you. You have to sit out of practices and games while you wait to heal up, which could take weeks or even months. During my senior year of high school I broke my thumb in our homecoming football game and had to sit out the last game of the season (and my career), which was against our conference rivals to determine who would take home the championship that year. I watched helplessly from the sideline while my teammates played and won the championship game and I celebrated with them afterwards, but the win was completely unsatisfying for me and the experience left a bitter taste in my mouth. After that experience of watching my team win a championship without me, I decided that no future injury was ever going to keep me from playing again.

Over the course of my athletic career I have suffered several injuries including a partial tear of my Tommy John ligament, the broken thumb, and various sprains and strains. All of these were relatively minor injuries and none required surgery, so I usually played through them. As a result, I have become accustomed to playing with some degree of pain and discomfort. However, when I tore my ACL in December of 2007 I thought for sure I was going to miss my entire junior season of baseball.

I have always loved sports and I rarely turn down an opportunity to compete, so when a few of my teammates asked me to join their intramural basketball team at school I agreed to play. In our second-to-last game of the year, I planted awkwardly while trying to guard an opponent and twisted my left knee. I felt a strange crunching sensation inside my knee, followed by intense pain and a sense of “looseness” within the joint. I immediately dropped to the ground and nearly blacked out from the pain. I managed to hobble off the court and later drive myself home, but I couldn’t sleep due to the fact that my knee hurt no matter what position it was in. The next day my knee had swelled and I was unable to bend it enough to even get up and down the stairs.  A few days later I went to see our trainer, and he told me I had torn my Anterior Cruciate Ligament. Of all the possible things I thought I had done to my knee, a torn ACL had never occurred to me, and I was immediately filled with dread that I would have to get surgery and sit out the season. Read the rest of this entry »