Should physical strength be measured

[RADcatchers]

I said there was no correlation between winning and weight training in baseball or softball. I didn't comment on whether weight training was beneficial to an athlete.

Got it. I editted my post because realize you were just adding that point/ comment. Agree team winning involves other factors.

So are you saying that no team will benefit from their entire team weight training?
or is that just a reminder that winning has other factors. Yes I agree winning has other factors.
However individual Player Development is part of those factors.

 

[steve1244]

I said there was no correlation between winning and weight training in baseball or softball. I didn't comment on whether weight training was beneficial to an athlete.

It's like asking if a player flosses their teeth often enough is important. Flossing is important but it's not correlated to winning.

There are a lot of attributes that go into making a winning softball player but the ability to lift heavy things isn't one of them. It's like saying I need all my golfers to deadlift 300 lbs.

Let's rephrase. If you are building the perfect softball player how far down the list do you have to go before you see "weight training"? It's pretty far down.

I don't know if I agree with this. Across a season, if you take a team that has never been on an S&C program, and put them on a good one, player performance is likely to improve as the season progresses and the longer the players are in the program because the players will have more force available in their bodies to bring to sports-specific skills like running, fielding, hitting and pitching. Being able to apply more force to these tasks seems like it could and likely would have a correlation to run scoring and run suppression over time. I can say this - my daughter is a pitcher, and she has more success now, after having been on a good program for 1.5 years, than she did before, and a lot of that is a result of her ability to put more force into the ground with her legs during the motion.

 

[CatchersPaPa]

I think the conditioning portion is more important than the strength.

 

[daywalkerdad]

There is no correlation between strength and winning percentage in baseball (or softball). Sure it can help the individual at some basic level but it's so far down the list it's with eating vegetables and getting a good night's sleep.

This may be true in almost any other sport but in baseball and softball? It just doesn't matter a whole lot, this is a skill-based sport.

Speed and agility are more beneficial to the softball player than weight training.

Career Leaders &amp Records for Wins Above Replacement | Baseball-Reference.com

Career WAR Leaders:1.Babe Ruth+/182.6/10628, 2.Walter Johnson+/166.9/2534, 3.Cy Young+/163.6/3104, 4.Barry Bonds/162.8/12606, 5.Willie Mays+/156.2/12545, 6.Ty Cobb+/151.5/13103, 7.Henry Aaron+/143.1/13941, 8.Roger Clemens/139.2/213, 9.Tris Speaker+/134.9/12020, 10.Honus&nbs

www.baseball-reference.com

While you have to combine with hand eye coordination. Not sure this is a correlation but strength is a much more common trait than speed with regards to career war. Yes Bonds and Mays were fast but also incredibly strong, but most position players high on the list would be more likely known for strength than speed and agility.

 

[Rolling Hard]

Ok, college coaches get 20 hours a week to practice. If I was a coach, I would use 4 or 5 hours max in the weight room. Hitting 7 qhours. Defense and situational 6 hours. A couple hours towards mental training and film.

 

[Cannonball]

Ok, college coaches get 20 hours a week to practice. If I was a coach, I would use 4 or 5 hours max in the weight room. Hitting 7 qhours. Defense and situational 6 hours. A couple hours towards mental training and film.

Is strength and conditioning counted in those hours? My dd's coach was never in the weight room. Also, time slots involve a revolving door of all sports athletes. I guess I am ignorant on that. (Ok I am ignorant on a lot of things.)

 

[4Martini]

Is strength and conditioning counted in those hours? My dd's coach was never in the weight room. Also, time slots involve a revolving door of all sports athletes. I guess I am ignorant on that. (Ok I am ignorant on a lot of things.)

When I was in college lifting was “voluntary”. So it didn’t fit in the 20 hours.

 

[Cannonball]

When I was in college lifting was “voluntary”. So it didn’t fit in the 20 hours.

That is the way it was where my dd attended college. Players were expected to be there and it was very early in the morning. Coach rarely showed up. I know that in the video online he is in one clip and that, I believe, was due to the trainer not being available. Players did track their efforts in their personal "sheets" but I don't know that they were ever turned in to anyone. My dd's team actually made videos or a video of them working out in the morning. My dd is not in that video. It was made when my dd was home with us two days after my mom died. Several schools have similar videos.

 

[Gambler Bob]

There is no correlation between strength and winning percentage in baseball (or softball). Sure it can help the individual at some basic level but it's so far down the list it's with eating vegetables and getting a good night's sleep.

This may be true in almost any other sport but in baseball and softball? It just doesn't matter a whole lot, this is a skill-based sport.

Speed and agility are more beneficial to the softball player than weight training.

Why do so many baseball players take steroids if there is no correlation of strength to winning percentage?

I believe that is a pretty big reach to say there is no correlation between strength and winning percentage. If you wanted to say there is a point of diminishing return I could agree to the strength comment but certainly could not agree to how you phrased it.

 

[JayW]

DD joined the HS weightlifting team. DD hit the ball farther. I am willing to go out on a limb and say the 2 were correlated.