Baseball Development Is Broken—Here’s Why

A Hard Question For Coaches

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Let me start with a question. If we have more data, more technology, and more experts in baseball than we've ever had before, why are so many young players more confused than ever about how to actually develop? After more than 200 conversations with coaches on this show, I think this answer might surprise you. Next on Baseball Coaches Unplugged.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

Baseball Coaches Unplugged is a podcast for high school travel and college baseball coaches who want to build better players and stronger programs. Each episode features real conversations about high school baseball coaching, travel baseball development, college recruiting, player development, practice planning, coaching, and winning development, and building a winning baseball culture. If you're a baseball coach looking for practical ideas on running better practices, developing players, navigating the recruiting process, and leading a successful program. This podcast showcases the best coaches from across the country with your host, 27-year high school, Coach Ken Carpenter.

Should Kids Copy MLB Swings

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Today's episode of Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the Netting Professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Will Minor and his team at the Netting Pros specialize in the design, fabrication, and installation of custom netting for baseball and softball. This includes backstops, batting cages, BP turtles, screens, ball carts, and more. They also design and install digital graphic wall padding, windscreen, turf, turf protectors, dugout benches, and cubbies. The netting pros also work with football, soccer, lacrosse, golf courses, and even pickleball. Contact them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707, where you can visit them online at www.nettingpros.com. Check out Netting Pros on X, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn for all their latest products and projects. Hello and welcome to Baseball Coaches Unplugged. I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. If you enjoyed today's show, please be sure to share it with someone who is a fan of baseball and especially high school and college baseball. Also, don't forget to follow us on X and it's at BCU Pod. Today I discuss should players be copying what the best players in the world are doing? Would love to hear your thoughts and whether you agree or disagree. Now to my take on what today's athletes are doing in the game of baseball. On last week's show, I had a College Hall of Fame coach who collected over 1,200 wins. He's the winningest coach in Black history at the University of New Mexico, and he was also on the staff for Team USA. His name is Ray Birmingham. He believes you should coach the player based on the player's body type. Here's how Coach Birmingham explained it.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

I coached against Aaron Judge, and I get it. I mean, but he's a different beast. He doesn't have kids take swings not thinking about their body type and who they are. That's one of the biggest fallacies that I've seen lately. You'll see a five foot nine, 160-pound second baseman trying to swing like Aaron Judge. Man is that dumb. And that, and and and there's just, you know, there's so much on the internet. There's so much this. The kids are getting so much into their head. And sometimes I think it's like a monkey with a machine gun. You've got to be careful. We're going to wound a lot of people.

When Metrics Become The Plan

Durability And The Outlier Trap

Better Questions For Real Development

Weekly Schedule And Closing Sponsor

SPEAKER_01 3:47

And honestly, it's something that keeps coming up on this podcast over and over again. After more than 200 conversations with high school, college, and professional coaches here on Baseball Coaches Unplugged, you start to notice some patterns. You hear what's actually working, you hear what coaches are worried about, and you hear where the game might be getting a little sideways. And I think the baseball industry has it problem right now. Now, before anybody jumps on me, the problem isn't that we don't have enough information. We got more data in baseball than we've ever had before. We got high-speed cameras, bat sensors, ball tracking, you name it. And the problem definitely isn't that we don't have smart people. There are a lot of really good coaches and really smart people working in this game. But here's where it gets tricky. Sometimes in baseball we start confusing what we can measure with what we can actually understand. And when this happens, the marketing starts to move faster than the reality. You see it all over social media now. Exit velocity, launch angle, bat speed, pitch velocity, spin rate, hard hit rate. Now listen, those numbers are useful. I'm not anti-data, not even close. If a kid hits a ball 95 miles per hour or harder, we know that's usually a good thing. If a pitcher throws harder, that can definitely open some doors. But the problem starts when those numbers turn from information into entire development plans. And if you've been coaching high school baseball for a while, you've probably seen this happen. Suddenly every hitter is chasing excellent velocity. Every swing is built around a launch angle. Every pitcher feels like he's not throwing 90, he's falling behind. And the truth is the game is a lot more complicated than that. I was recently reading about something similar that's happening in the running world years ago. Coaches noticed that a lot of elite sprinters landed more on the front part of their foot when they ran. It made sense for sprinting. But then that idea sprung everywhere. All of a sudden, four foot running was supposed to be the right way to run for everybody, even distance runners. But when researchers actually looked at the real races, almost three-quarters of the distance runners were still landing on their heels. And a lot of runners didn't even know how they were landing in the first place. And that's the interesting lesson. A lot of times, athletes don't describe how they actually move. They describe how they think they're supposed to move. And baseball, it does the same thing. A few successful players do something a certain way, a few metrics get popular, a few viral training videos start floating around online, and before long everybody thinks that's a model they have to follow. But here's something I've learned from talking with hundreds of coaches on his show. The really good coaches, whether they're at high school level, college, or pro, they're not chasing trends. They're trying to understand the player in front of them. Because development isn't about forcing every kid into the same swing or the same delivery as a pitcher. It's about figuring out how the athlete moves, how they create force, how they handle timing, how they deal with fatigue, how they compete when things aren't perfect. And here's something else they don't talk enough about durability. You don't hear a lot of marketing around durability. You see a lot of videos about the 100-mile-hour fastball, the 115-mile exit velocity, the 450-foot home run. But where's the marketing for the pitcher who can stay healthy and repeat his delivery for 10 years? Where's the marketing for the hitter who controls the strike zone, makes adjustments, and still performs when he's tired in late May? Those things matter, and they matter a lot. And here's the other reality we need to be honest about. Especially when we're talking to young players and parents. Baseball sells dreams, but the numbers are tough. I believe maybe 8% of high school players end up playing NCAA baseball. And from there, only a small percentage get drafted. And even being drafted doesn't guarantee anything. That's a narrow funnel. Which is why it doesn't make sense to force every player to train like a tiny group of outliers at the very top of the game. Aaron Judge is real, Shohe Otani is real, Paul Skins is real. But those guys are outliers, and baseball has always loved outliers. The mistake is when we start treating outliers like they're the template for everybody else. Most people involved in youth baseball mean well. Parents want to help their kids, players want to succeed. And coaches, they want to give their athletes the every opportunity possible. But sometimes the industry slowly turns the athlete into a product. More swings, more throwing, more velocity programs, more lead drills, more pressure, more comparison, and definitely more fear of falling behind. And that's when the development starts going the wrong direction. Because the real development should start with the athlete, not the trend. Use the data, absolutely. Measure things, track progress, study swings and deliveries. But don't forget the most important part of the equation, the athlete standing right there in front of you. Every player has a different body, a different coordination, different timing, different strengths, and different ways of solving movement problems. So maybe the question we ask as coaches needs to be changed needs to change just a little bit. Instead of asking, what's the perfect swing? Maybe we ask, what swing works best for this player? Instead of asking, how do we get more velocity? Maybe we ask, how do we help this pitcher throw harder without breaking down? And instead of asking how do we copy the best players in the world, maybe we ask, how do we help the athletes stay healthy, compete, and keep improving? Because after more than 200 conversations with coaches here on this podcast, one thing keeps coming up. The best coaches aren't tracing, they're not chasing the latest trend. They're trying to understand their players. And in the long run, that's usually what leads to better development and better baseball. Be sure to tune in next Wednesday and every Wednesday as I sit down and talk baseball with some of the best baseball coaching minds across the country. Today's show here on Baseball Coaches Unplugged is powered by the netting professionals, improving programs one facility at a time. Reach out to them today at 844-620-2707. That's 844-620-2707. Or visit them online at www.nettingpros.com. As always, I'm your host, Coach Ken Carpenter. Thanks for listening to Baseball Coaches Unplugged.