Posted by: ernie roy (prd530@msn.com) on Sun Sep 20 11:52:28 2009

> every year hundreds if not thousands of good ballplayers HS and college ball players graduate from school and are disappointed that their playing days are going no futher. they will not make the big college teams or be drafted in the June draft even though many many of the pitchers had big winning records and the batters hit the highest in there leagues confrences and counties .usally the reason is speed ,or lack of it. with pitchers its arm speed 90 mph will get you noticed with postion players it foot speed ,and bat speed how fast can a runner run to first? and with batters they want enough bat speed for the ball to really jump off the bat the more pop the more a player will be noticed by coaches and scouts at the next level. The scouts come with radar guns stop watches all in search of speed. But whats as impessive as any thing elese is real bat pop, and bat speed. eventually a pitcher will have to show control and batter will have to hit all the various pitches but arm speed and foot speed and bat speed will get you noticed

Hi Jerry,

Couldn't agree more. i get a bit dismayed when I hear kids asking how best to "bulk up" so they can hit like the pro's, or spending their whole off season lifting weights in hopes of increasing power. I have nothing against lifting per se, and I am not one of those old fogies who think all it does is make you musclebound. However, I'll tell you what makes a kid slow - not working on speed. It's all about specificity of trainign - you get what you train for. If you want to bench press a house - train for it. If you want to be faster from home to 1st base, or throw harder, then you'd better be doing some type of throwing or running.

Ernie