EP93 – Developmental Age of Ballplayers; Wearing Your Cap Backwards; Can Baseball Players Be…Fat?

How fast do ballplayers develop? Is baseball skill related more to absolute skill? Or size and strength PLUS a requisite amount of skill? Is it better to be small and have great mechanics, or big with lesser mechanics? Plus, Dan discusses what scouts think about wearing a cap backward and whether ballplayers can be big-boned and still perform well.

To submit a question for the Q&A segment, email a voice recording to Dan at hello@danblewett.com. Want to support the show? Buy a copy of Dear Baseball Gods on Kindle or Paperback, or listen on audiobook. Or, pick up Pitching Isn’t Complicated, his advanced-but-understandable pitching manual.Enroll in one of Coach Dan’s online pitching courses or his mental skills course. Use code BASEBALL GODS to save 20% on any course, just for being a listener. Sign up for Dan’s Email list and get a free pitching checklist, and follow up with him on the interwebs: YouTube Channel | Twitter | Danblewett.com

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Transcript: EP93 – Developmental Age of Ballplayers; Wearing Your Cap Backwards; Can Baseball Players Be…Fat?

Hey, welcome back. This is dear baseball gods. I’m Dan Blewett and this is episode 93. So in today’s episode, we’re going to cover three topics first. How does developmental versus biological age play into your development as a player? Uh, in our 92nd mindset, we’ll talk about wearing your baseball cap and how that is important or not important.

And lastly, we’ll talk about body types and do you have to be really fit to play baseball? Well, So first let’s, uh, be philosophers here a little bit about what does it actually mean to be skilled at baseball or any sport in general? So a really good example here is women’s basketball versus men’s basketball.

So we all know that women have the ability to be as skilled at anything as men, but we know that there’s a difference biologically, and that they’re less. Able to develop the same level of strength. So when we start comparing the NBA to the WWE MBA, we know that the female players and the NBA, or as technically proficient at basketball as any of the men, they can shoot, they can pass, they can, you know, do all the basketball thing.

I’m certainly not a basketball expert. Um, but. Their skills. As far as basketball skills go are absolutely as good or can be as good or better than any comparable man, but given the physicality of the game and how many men or towering over them height-wise are more physical. Basketball is pretty rough at times as is like even non-contact sports like soccer, obviously lacrosse is like a medium contact sport, even though these sports aren’t like football, right.

Uh, they’re still pretty contact intensive, like soccer you’re bumping into leaning into people like really fighting for the ball. Same thing with basketball. If you’ve watched the last dance documentary about the Chicago bulls, it’s clearly a very physical game and you can’t get to the basket without being physical with other players.

So when you started taking some of those other things into account, you can see why the difference in getting the ball into the net would be vastly different. If we had females playing in the men’s game in basketball, they just wouldn’t have the physicality and the height and some of these other things to compete at that same level.

Um, now in sports, we see the same thing in the development of different, so we can have a. 13 year old who’s six foot. Yeah, 175 pounds and throws a ball 75 miles per hour, which is obviously excellent for that age can also have a 13 year old who’s five, two and 110 pounds. Um, and he throws the ball 60 miles per hour or 55 miles per hour.

Right. They’re both 13. One of them has a biological age. That’s probably representative of a 13 year old, like most 13 year olds are probably between five, two and five eight, maybe five, six, maybe five, five is like an average 13 year old. I should probably know better about this. I’d have to see one to size them up.

I’m a little out of touch being a year from my, my Academy, but basically we know that there’s your biological age, like I’m 13, I’m 27, I’m 54. And then your developmental age is a youth is how physical are you for that age? And obviously we all know, I don’t have to harp on this too much that everyone has grown up at a different pace.

And so the question is, and this is the tough question. What does it mean to be good at baseball or good at basketball? Um, if you compare LeBron James who has the same skills as a w NBA player, like they have the same technical basketball skills, they can shoot a ball just as well. They can dribble, they can, they have the same agility.

They have the same, you know, guarding ability. They’ve all the same skills. Is it relevant that LeBron James is somewhat more physical than the WMB player that he gets the ball much more. Um, and obviously the answer is yes, when you’re trying to win basketball games or the answer is yes. On the baseball field when you’re trying to win baseball games.

So even though you could have a 13 year old, and this is my bigger point, you can have a 13 year old who’s. Five 220 pounds, then you have with a 16 year old or 13 year old, who’s six foot, 170 pounds. The six foot hundred 70 pound kid is developmentally like 15 year old or even a 16 year old he’s two or three years advanced for his biological age.

So his developmental age is probably 16. Like a lot of 16 year old kids are six foot. 165 pounds. Like they’re still kind of skinny, but they’re getting their height to them and they can just do a lot more stuff. Right. You could look at a 13 year old and be like, Oh, is he 16? Like, why isn’t that team?

Right. We get that. So when you’re comparing skill of a baseball player, you can have a 13 year old who’s tiny, who’s got excellent baseball skills, a great swing, a great glove. His pitching mechanics are excellent, but the ball just doesn’t leave his bat very hard. And the ball doesn’t leave his arm very fast.

He just doesn’t throw his arm. Even though his mechanics are technically superior, perhaps to an older kid who maybe doesn’t have great mechanics or, uh, to, uh, the same age player, who’s got a greater developmental age, you know, a 13 year old is six foot who can just Chuck the ball 15 miles per hour harder because he’s essentially a 16 year old and his mechanics maybe aren’t even that good.

So as parents, unfortunately, It, it doesn’t as much matter that you have the superior skills. If you don’t get the output on the field, which is hitting the ball, hard, getting hits, extra base hits, getting people out on the mound, you don’t really get any points for saying, well, my son has great pitching mechanics and he’s technically very proficient at baseball, but he can’t get anyone out.

That really, unfortunately doesn’t matter much unless you have coaches who say, yeah, you’re right. And we just need to wait and keep teasing them the game the right way until till he hits his Grossberg now good coaches at the youth level. We’ll do that. And we’ve done that in the past where we’ve stuck to kids.

You can play the game well, but maybe it just don’t have the physical abilities to keep up with the speed of the game. So at every level, whether it’s 10 year, 12, 14, 16, 18 year, whatever. There’s a corresponding speed of the game. Obviously, when you go to the 90 foot diamond, the full size diamond, you have to be able to hit the ball at a certain exit velocity.

Like you have to hit the ball hard enough to hit it out of the infield. You know, there’s a lot of players who were really under size when they make that leap at 14, you sometimes 13, you, depending on the part of the country. And they just suddenly can’t hit the ball forcefully enough to really get hits anymore.

Like they just can’t hit a hard enough to really have it reliably get past a shortstop on the ground. That’s a very real thing. And so swing is good. Their plate discipline is good. Like they’re good at baseball. Well, but they’re not because they can’t get hits. And that’s, what’s really tough. On a players mentally on parents mentally.

And unfortunately when the college recruiting stuff starts and when high school baseball starts, you have to be physical enough to do the job. So, you know, we’re talking about picking your varsity team and players are gonna be cut. Um, It doesn’t help that your swing is great, but you just can’t hit the ball very hard.

It doesn’t great help that your mechanics are great, but you just can’t throw very hard. Unfortunately, at that point. Yeah. Oh like the bill comes due that you just have to be the throw the ball hard. You just have to be to hit the ball hard. You just have to be able to steal a base or run so enough, um, or whatever.

And so, and this is also. Ties into a little bit, what we’ll cover at the Q and a portion is you have to have the body to do it too. So a lot of times kids are too out of shape or, or too big or whatever, and they can’t keep up with the pace of the game. So like they’re always going to be out on a double playground ball.

Like they can’t ever beat one out. They can’t ever lay out a double cause they’re too slow, stuff like that. So this is just an important thing to talk about because. When we’re talking about coaching skills, the best thing you can do, because you can’t control your developmental speed, your developmental age, you know, some kids are just 16 year olds when they’re 14 and great for them.

They got the genetic, you know, they won the genetic lottery and you can’t control that otherwise. But. What you can control is their development and their skill and helping them have the best swing they possibly can. So when the, when they hit that growth spurt, now those skills endure and they just, all right, now I just have the same great swing or the same great pitching mechanics, but I have a lot of strength now in size to go with it and now I can crush.

And so you see those kids catch up. And so what, what basically you see. If you can make it to the next checkpoint. Cause this is thing. If you’re still tiny, if you’re still a high school senior and you’re five, six, 130 pounds, you might just not get a chance to play college baseball and your career and your career ends there because you don’t have the output on the field.

So you have to make it to the next checkpoint. So, alright. I got it. I had adjusted enough to get a chance of college baseball. Now I got four more years to develop again, and maybe I can turn pro or whatever, or I just got my foot in the door. On my freshmen team or my, my JV team. And now I’ve got another year, at least to develop and then maybe make that varsity.

So as a parent, your goal is to. Keep them developing as best you can and understand that there will be a convergence. And that convergence is usually it starts in varsity sports. Cause kids start to become more comparably sized, but it, especially, it basically finishes in college sports wear. When you’re a junior in college, you’re pretty filled out, right?

You still become, I guess, more of a, a man when you get into your life. 23, 24, 25. And I think at 25, you really start to level out physically because there’s definitely a difference between pro ball players. Who’ve got three or four years and just physically and, uh, new rookies who are 21 per se. Um, But until we get to that convergence point, which is in college.

Cause in college, like if you look at the college world series, you’re not getting guys that throw 98 because they’re just like bigger than everyone else. Everyone’s like a grown person at that point, everyone’s doing their weightlifting. Everyone’s got closed growth, growth, growth plates. Yeah. There’s guys who are six, six, and other guys were six one, but.

It’s not like anyone’s trying to, alright, I’m going to be six, four, one day, but I’m today I’m only six foot. Like they’re done growing and that’s where the convergence point comes and that’s where the skills come due. So when you’re in college and you’re say a sophomore, junior, and you’re pretty much done filling out now, we’ll figure out, okay.

You were awesome when you were 14. Cause you’re bigger than everyone else. But now you’re in college and. You’re not really that good. Your curveball kind of sucks. Yeah. You threw harder than everyone else at all the lower levels. But now as the lower developmental guys caught up, they’re superior pitching mechanics are now rearing their heads.

They’re superior hitting, um, mechanics and their, and their, and their plate discipline is now rearing its head. And now we really get to figure out who was the better ballplayer, you know, and that’s where. You finally, again, like you get your pay off, if you did the right things and finally got your gross Burt.

And if you were just advanced for your age and weren’t really that technically skilled, then you get exposed at that level too. So I don’t know that I have a huge moral for the story, but it’s something to consider as a parent and as a player and as a coach where you fit in, in your developmental age versus your biological age.

And what implications that might have in the way you train and how you bide your time. And then when you’re finally going to get your pay off.

All right. And our 92nd mindset portion of the show, let’s just talk real quick about how to wear your cap. So obviously the game is changing. There’s more flare there’s more, you know, let the kids play was kind of the thing last year in major league baseball. And there’s something to be said for being yourself, for being an individual, for having some style, all that stuff.

Ballplayers do always bring athletes in general, just sort of bring their own style into the clubhouse. It’s one of the cool melting pot kind of features. I always got like fashion tips, just like watching guys walk in and like, Oh, he’s got cool shoes. Like, what brand is that? Like? Oh, he’s got a cool backpack.

He’s got a cool hoodie. Like what brand? Like you started to learn stuff like that. And that’s. One of the fun things about the game. You just get to learn a very like melting pot of, uh, players, like there’s guys from California, from Texas. Like everyone brings their own style. And since athletes are usually sort of like alphas, they all have their own sort of like swagger and everyone’s sort of like steals from each other a little bit.

It’s kind of fun. But anyway, how you wear your cap? Is still an indicator to some or some old school folks about your character, which is disappointing, but in general, it’s just good to play it safe when you’re at the ballpark. So, or my cat backwards sometimes, uh, not as much anymore, but I tended to prefer my bill behind.

If I’m just walking around everyday life, it’s just like, I can kind of see a little better. I’m not, you know, you can see your cap, your bill, um, But when you’re at the ballpark, especially if you’re in high school and you’re on the recruiting trail, there is still just this weird negative connotation about having your cab backwards.

That you’re a little bit rebellious or you don’t really care about team rules, or you don’t care about looking professional. Um, and there’s some, some validity that in some and not, but at the same time, Your goal is always just to try to look professional and try to give people reasons to not make assumptions about your characters.

They can shine. It’s really just your character and the way you play the field shines through. And that’s true, unfortunately, for every walk of life. And the cap can just kind of be a microcosm of it. So obviously if you were to show up for a job interview wearing parachute pants and you know, like some crazy shirt and like, I don’t know, had your hair dyed, you probably not get the job.

And I think everyone kind of intuitively knows that even if you’re a super qualified, um, there’s just like a conservativism in the workplace and all this stuff. And, and the idea of being professional is important. So. The backwards cap. I guess my recommendations would be this, if you’re on the recruiting trail and you’re really hoping to play college baseball, just try and do the little thing, right.

That probably don’t matter. Like, does it matter if you wear your cap backwards? Does it really mean that much to you? If it doesn’t then I’d say just keep it forward. Um, if you feel like, Hey, this is my style. I want to be who I am. I want any coach who signs me to know that. I’m an individual and this is like, I have my own way about things.

Okay. So be it. You can make that choice too. Um, you just never know if you had 10 coaches watching you and you have your backwards cap as you walk onto the field and they see you, um, There’s going to be, there is going to be some percentage that makes an assumption that they don’t know. I don’t like that kid.

He seems like he just wants to be an individual, wants to stick out. He won’t let his play stick, stick him out for him. That was a clunky way of saying that I’m obviously on the field. You should never have your cap backwards. Like that’s part of your uniform is to have your cat forward. Really? What I’m talking about is off the field.

Like you’re coming up to the, you know, you’re in your practice or you’re in pregame off the field, like at a tournament or you’re just in the bleachers waiting stuff like that. Again, those are not, you can be yourself when you’re not on the field, but people still watch and we’ll still make assumption.

So some something to be careful about and just remember that. There still, unfortunately is some little stigma of rebellion and wearing your cap backwards.

Alright, now it’s time for our listener Q and a portion of the show. If you have a question you’d like answered on the show, please email a voice recording to hello@danblewett.com.

Lastly, in the Q and a portion today. I just had a question from a friend, um, from the UK and she was asking, why are, why are these ballplayers not very fit? It seems like some of them almost have like a little bit of a gut. Um, why do they not have like the fitness that soccer players or like rugby players have?

And I thought this was an interesting question to consider, but really. What it boils down to is in baseball. The demands are different than basketball or soccer or rugby, where you’re just not running your body into this state of, um, I guess, you know, you, you run off a lot of calories obviously. And so your body gets shaped by the sport that you play.

Right. And so in baseball, you still see the same outfielders are very fit. Middle infielders have to be very fit because they’re constantly on their feet. They’re constantly moving. They have to be agile to play the position. Well, third basements also catchers tend to be bigger body dry because they’re kind of stationary.

They need to have thick, durable legs based on kind of the same thing. And they’re also not paid to run balls down the hole, and they’re also not paid to run out triples. Right. So baseball is unique in that. If you’re a big guy, if you can hit the ball of the fence, you’re going to make it to second base.

Like they’re not going to throw you out at second. If you hit the ball over the author’s head and you’re not going to third base, like we get that. Right. Right. So baseball shapes the way you are. But I think it’s important for young players to have some idea of what is my best body weight, what is my best shape?

How do I play best? What’d I, I play better if I was fatter or less fat. And obviously no one wants to be fat, but some of us can be really good with a little more body fat. Like you look at first baseman in the big leagues. They’re probably not sporting six pack abs, but they’re again, they’re paid to hit bombs.

So keeping a little more blubber on them sometimes allows them to be more powerful. You see us in all sports. You see this in, you know, the leanest players in football are probably the wide receivers and the running backs. Because again, they have to move. Whereas the players, you don’t have to move as much.

You have to put out more force are going to have a little more body weight, just like a bear would, right. To be intimidating. And so to, to hunt certain animals. So, you know, this is always going to ring true in more physical sports and baseball is really more of a power sport, especially at the corner positions.

Like. First and third base catcher and corner outfield. Those guys are going to hit for power a little more than the center fielder. So typically the center fielder is more small, smaller, and more agile and fast and fast Twitch. So just remember, you’ll see outliers like David Wells was a fat guy. I mean, um, CC, CC Sabathia also pretty overweight.

But if you took 40 pounds off CC Sabathia, is he a better pitcher? It’s not clear that he would be. And a lot of times athletes just seem to know what their ideal set point is, what their best body weight is, and then just stick to it. And it takes some trial and error and sometimes you figure it out and again, you’ll see, see in pro ball, lot of times you see catchers who were just like running poles before a game and pregame, and you’re like, why are you running?

Like your catcher? And they’re like, man, I just know my body. If I get too heavy, I can’t move the way I need to move. And I can’t throw the way I want to throw and I can’t hit the way I want to hit. So, so really good players at the highest level, they know what they need to do to be at their best level of baseball fitness.

Well, that’s it for today’s episode of dear baseball gods. If you enjoy the show and would like to support me while improving your baseball IQ. By one of my books were enrolled today in an online pitching course, sign up for any of my courses, do the links in the show notes and save 20% with code baseball gods, just for being a listener.

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