Many facets of popular culture draw lots of attention to a baseball player’s ability to swing a bat, but the sport isn’t just about managing to hit the speeding ball of leather. Nor is it purely about hurling a baseball with tremendous force and skill.
Baseball is also about running.
Mark McGwire, who unseated Babe Ruth as the player to hit the most home runs in his career, turned 9.42 percent of pitches thrown at him into home runs. Unless you hit home runs a hundred percent of the time, you’re going to need to run a lot.
Because running is just as important to baseball as the bat, pitcher’s mound, and radar speed guns, you need to become an excellent runner if you want to be a great player.
Here are a few ways you can work on your running ability and improve your chances of being the best pick of the draft in the next baseball season.
Basic Training
Don’t ever overlook the basics. A good basic or foundation training helps condition and prepare your body for the physical exertion needed. Not only do these routine exercises build up your body’s endurance, but they’re also great for improving your physical agility and flexibility.
Routinely perform basic exercises, like lunges, pushups, pull-ups, and squats. Although you can do these exercises alone, you’ll no doubt fare better with a little supervision. With an expert’s assistance, you’ll avoid common pitfalls like overexertion and muscle imbalance, which greatly impact your mobility.
Home to First Base Training
When you’re done doing your sets of basic exercises and conditioning your body to higher limits, you need to learn what it takes to run through all four bases of the diamond.
The ability to dash through the diamond’s four corners of the diamond determines who wins or loses a game, or even an entire season.
Work on drills that will help you accomplish specific goals around the diamond. For example, base-stealing drills focus on delicate legwork that improves your acceleration and lets you steal bases more efficiently.
Tennis Ball Drops Drill
Running the bases is all about completing your goal (reach home base) in as short a time as possible. Because of the shape of a baseball stadium, you need to not just turn but also put on bursts of speed with each base.
Tennis ball drop drills are a great way for you to condition your legs to huge bursts of speed. These drills also improve hand-eye coordination, a welcome skill in baseball players. To do the drills, another person walks a few feet away from you, depending on your intended intensity. This person then drops a tennis ball on the ground to make it bounce. Your goal is to sprint toward the ball fast enough and catch it before it bounces a second time.
With a great team and the perfect accessories, these exercises and drills are perfect for upgrading your baseball-playing skills to the next level. Along with the determination and endurance unique to athletes, you’ll prove that you can run the distance.
Read the Speed
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Check out our range of products today and equip yourself for greatness.