Tom Brennan
PLAYERS' WORKOUTS: SIMPLE QUESTIONS
PLAYERS' WORKOUTS: SIMPLE QUESTIONS
William Shakespeare once asked himself something PRETTY IMPORTANT:
"To work out...or not to work out...THAT is the question."
The unhappy injury recap: Yo Cespedes
misses months with leg injuries. Michael Conforto misses months with a
shoulder rip. Thor with a lat rip – more months lost.
TJ
Rivera is not even a pitcher and misses months due to Tommy John
surgery. Lagares misses months with diving injuries. Neil Walker
missed several weeks with a hamstring injury.
Jose Reyes used to miss lots
of time with assorted leg injuries.
David Wright, an avid workout guy,
misses tons of time due to stenosis, perhaps aggravated by the workouts? Steve
Matz bulked up last off season, then got hurt twice.
And on and on.
One has to ask oneself a simple,
short question….WHY?
And, was this injury stuff the norm back in
the good old days, when guys played, but didn’t work out?
I decided to look at an
unscientific sample of guys, and decided that no, apparently it was NOT the
norm.
Of course, we have the standard
bearers of durability of yore: Lou
Gehrig and Cal Ripken.
To my knowledge, both got most of
their conditioning playing in games, not in the weight room.
Willie Mays? The Say Hey Kid
missed just 40 games in one 13 year stretch – he played the game hard, but did
the workouts that did not happen keep him healthier?
Hank Aaron? 77 games missed –
a lot? No – it was over a 16 year stretch.
I don’t think he worked out much either.
Stan THE MAN Musial? From 1943
thru 1955, he missed a total of 15 games.
I don’t think he was doing 500 pound deadlifts in his spare time.
Mel Ott? In a 14 year
stretch, the great Otter missed just 82 games, and in only 2 of those seasons
did he miss more than 6 games. Can't picture him working out to strengthen his core.
Jimmie Fox? In a 12 year
stretch, he missed 86 games – meaning he played in 24 of every 25 games over
those 14 years. Smart like a fox - stayed out of the gym, most likely.
Babe Ruth? He was more injury-prone, but from 1920 through 1931, he
had 6 seasons where he either played them all or missed 2 or 3 games. At age 25, he missed 12 games, 44 games
missed at age 27, 56 missed at age 30, and 19 missed at age 34 – but not likely
due to an extreme workout regimen. (Amazing lesser-known Babe stats unrelated to this article: in 1916
and 1917, he threw more than 320 innings both years, won 47 games, and had an
ERA of 1.88. Wow.)
So, is it right to ask players if
their workout regimens are hugely counter-productive?
I remember the days of skinny guys who sure
seemed less prone to injuries. And Jay Bruce has been pretty durable, even
if not like the old timers (excluding the Babe) above - Bruce has averaged a
fine 151 games over the past 8 seasons – I wonder if he works out less than the
other guys and is just naturally strong?
What say you, reader? Is less working out much more beneficial to
durability? Are intense workouts simply
an invitation to extended periods of injury?
BTW:
THOR ROUNDING INTO SHAPE: only 11 pitches of 100 MPH or more in his 2 innings yesterday. Wazzup wit' dat??
Clearly, he needs to get his velocity up...it will take a few weeks of getting stretched out for him to hit 110. Let's remain patient.
THOR ROUNDING INTO SHAPE: only 11 pitches of 100 MPH or more in his 2 innings yesterday. Wazzup wit' dat??
Clearly, he needs to get his velocity up...it will take a few weeks of getting stretched out for him to hit 110. Let's remain patient.
16 comments:
Mack, my concern is leg pulls sometimes beget leg pulls - we've seen Cespedes last year (ouch, ouch, yea, verily, thrice ouch), and Reyes in years past. I recall Keith Hernandez getting a quad pull, coming back and reinjuring it right away. Hence, my follow up article at 2:00 PM. Healthy is better, nice and easy does it.
My knee was a little cranky this morning, BTW, so I ask Mickey to hold me out of today's game.
Mack, BTW, weren't you a bat boy for Mel Ott? That's the rumor :)
I like Shakespeare. Didn't he write that Jack Ryan series?
I have moved on from last year's aches, pains, and woes. It is hard not to be positive so far this spring.
And I do not think any of the early dings are more than that. Just the usual happenings on the usual subject.
Tom -
His father.
Ha Ha - say hi to Abner Doubleday for me when you see him
Dom Smith - strained quad,
Jay Bruce - DH today
Juan Lagares - strained hammy
Tim Tebow - available to hit today
Jacob DeGrom - sore back
Yoenis Céspedes - mild sore shoulder.
FWIW, Curtis Granderson says he doesn’t believe in working out either, the mass slows you down. Too, Reyes had to learn to run differently, whatever that means.
In yesterday’s game, the 93 mph change up that Syndergaard threw to Marwin Gonzalez was one of the best pitches I saw him throw. Came in straight as a string and just as the bat was getting into the zone, the pitch died and fell about ten inches. Gonzalez had no chance. The second best pitch was a slider that looked like a high fastball, only to dart down and in to a righty and made him just stand there.
Yesterday, Syndergaard looked the best I ever saw him throw. No wonder Callaway was smiling when he hit the rookie the other day. Can you imagine having those pitches in your mind and worrying about getting hit too?
You forgot Brandon Nimmo's collapsed lung
Altuve said that he could throw that curve that struck him out 100 times and he would strike out 100 times.
Reese -
Really?
Not on official Mets list
Reese -
Double checked... no collapsed lung for Nimmo
Only the Mets collapse - but hopefully not this year.
TexasGus, hopefully Syndergaard will be the best pitcher in baseball in 2018
Per Chris Soto - it was partially collapsed in early July
Callaway has to be just tingly watching that.
Excessive bulk (fat or muscle) isn't conducive to success in baseball.....we don't need Offensive Linemen in there, right?
Body weight exercises, functional strength in the core and flexibility are far more important, IMO. Ideally, Yoga and Pilates are more relevant then bench press records, etc.
Mike, great sluggers like Mays, Aaron, Foxx and Ott - their average size and listed weight? 5'10+" 178 pounds. Smallish, but they did fairly well.
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