What I Would Do If I Had a Middle School Baseball Player

For this blog post, I wanted to get away from the traditional physical therapy or training advice that I typically highlight. I see many baseball players in my office, and the biggest issue they face is the lack of a plan. Their development is struggling because they do not know what they should be doing. This oftentimes leads to the injury that brought them to physical therapy in the first place.

A significant inflection point occurs at 13-years-old in most baseball players. That is when the field size increases and when they begin middle school. The increase in field size leads to increased difficulty due to longer throws, further running, and increased hitting demands. The start of middle school is when many athletes start worrying about playing in high school. High school baseball can be one of the first times that a player faces the risk of being cut. It also carries enormous pressure due to wanting to play with your friends, the social status involved with high school sports, and a myriad of other reasons.

13-years-old is often a time of change regarding physical development. Many boys are going or have gone through puberty, put on muscle, and have increased strength as a result. All of a sudden, the 60 mph pitcher is touching 70 mph. This carries increased injury risk. I always tell clients that you are more likely to get hurt throwing 70 mph compared to 60 mph even if you have perfect training and mechanics. There are simply more forces at work to reach 70 mph and that can lead to increased stress and injury risk. Injuries begin to increase with increased muscle and overall power.

So, what can we do about a difficult time in players’ lives? I want to outline 7 steps that I would take if my child was in middle school and played baseball. Some are obvious and some might be new to you. Some are specific plans while others are just general vibes. Take a look at the list and think about it yourself. If you have any suggestions, I am all ears. Email me at danny@eclipsewellnessnova.com and I am happy to chat and hear your thoughts. Let’s talk through some suggestions that I have made for parents of athletes.

Play Other Sports

Let’s start with an easy one. The best athletes played multiple sports in high school. It decreases your injury risk to play multiple sports. This is the easiest way to develop general athleticism (a topic that we will re-visit later). Baseball is a repetitive sport. You probably throw and hit with similar mechanics. Try playing some basketball or soccer to improve your endurance. Maybe you like football and want to work on strength. Maybe you like martial arts because of the coordination. There is no wrong answer when playing sports. By middle school, your child probably knows what they like. Now is a tough time to introduce a new sport, but encourage them to continue all of their sports as long as possible. We want to create a well-rounded athlete who happens to be a baseball player, not a baseball player who tries really hard to be athletic.

Make a Plan and Get Assessed

This is a personal one to me. If you have not yet checked out my post about how I assess baseball players, then do that now. Middle school is a great time to make a plan and start to have some honest conversations. Is your child’s goal to play professional baseball? Then we need to get serious quickly about maximizing their potential. Are they just wanting to play in high school with their friends? Then we might want to go the more general route and make sure they do not get burned out. Either option should involve an assessment regarding their physical capabilities. This can be performed by a physical therapist, strength coach, skills coach, or anyone else who knows what they are doing. Beware the guru who uses assessments to justify their training and is only looking to get people in the door, point out their flaws, and keep them until these arbitrary flaws are fixed. If you have some honest conversations, make a reasonable plan, and discuss the details with an expert, you are ahead of most other middle schoolers. 

Get a Crew

It takes a village to raise a child and it takes almost that many to make a baseball player. Think of MLB players. They are the best of the best, but they still have a whole team around them. Your 13-year-old probably has less ability and would benefit more from having a team. Start with a physical therapist, a strength coach, and a skills coach (pitching, hitting, catching, etc.). You do not need to be seeing these people regularly, but you want to know who you trust. You do not want to be scrolling Google looking for a physical therapist when your child’s arm is hurting and you have no idea what you are looking for (if you are in Northern Virginia you should be looking for Eclipse Wellness but that is beside the point). Find your crew and get comfortable. You will be trusting these people a lot so you better like them.

Start Training

The start of puberty can make kids awkward, but it can also unlock a ton of strength. Prior to puberty, boys have minimal testosterone, which is what you use to build muscle. Puberty cranks up testosterone production, meaning muscles grow quickly. Proper strength training during puberty can set you up for a lifetime of strength. Find someone who knows how to train baseball players, but stick to the general strengthening. Do not fall for the bodybuilder splits. Most middle schoolers should be lifting 3 times a week and doing whole body workouts. You do not need separate days for shoulders and arms when you are 13, you just don’t. We want to maximize working sets for each area. Hitting all movements (squat, hinge, push pull, etc.) 3 times a week provides a better stimulus than breaking everything down and doing it twice a week. 

Start Arm Care

Now I just said to avoid specific workouts, but the arm is the exception. Most injuries that derail development and take you off the field involve the arm, so we want to give it some special attention. A detailed assessment is ideal and will provide individual exercises, but I created an at home arm care plan if you need some help. It includes a 6-week program with no equipment to begin building arm strength and mobility. Once again, I would recommend seeing a specialist for an assessment, but our at-home program has worked well for lots of players.

Prioritize Recovery

Start nailing recovery before you need it. Learn to eat what your body needs (find yourself a Registered Dietitian like Sarah) and maximize sleep. At this age, most kids do not have too many responsibilities, and they can build healthy habits that carry into high school. All of your workouts mean nothing if you do not give your body a chance to adequately recover. Figure out a recovery routine that you can utilize and your middle schooler will be ahead of their peers.

Own Your Journey

My final piece of advice is to own the journey. You will have many coaches, trainers, and healthcare providers come and go, but they will never care about your child as much as you do. Do not mistake creating a crew with handing over their future. These experts are there to guide your decisions, but at the end of the day it is your family’s life and your child’s career. The sooner you make a plan to know where you are going, the better you will be.

In summary, I would tell a middle schooler to make a plan, develop into a general athlete, find your team, and own your journey. Simply starting this process will put you ahead of a lot of your peers. If you have any questions about what I discussed, or any other thoughts to add to this, please email me at danny@eclipsewellnessnova.com and we can discuss it further. Thanks for reading and hopefully you got some good ideas to implement with your child!

If you'd like to hear more about this topic or watch it in video form, check out our YouTube video.