Why Off-Season Training Is a Game-Changer for Baseball & Softball Players 🥎⚾

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Parents want their kids to shine under the lights, but the real transformation happens when the stands are empty and the pressure is off. We break down a clear, no-nonsense plan for using the offseason to make smart mechanical changes, build strength and speed, and lock in confidence that shows up when the games return. Drawing from the routines of elite athletes, we explain why small in-season tweaks and big between-season overhauls are the proven path—and how to apply that rhythm for youth players at any stage.

You’ll hear a practical roadmap across hitting, pitching, fielding, and athletic development. For hitters, that means targeted lessons, video analysis, and focused work on grip, hand position, stride, and swing path. For pitchers, it’s a progressive throwing plan, command training, spin efficiency, and safe velocity development combined with arm care and recovery. We also highlight the often-missed pillars: mobility, core stability, lateral movement, first-step quickness, and the smart introduction of new gear so athletes adapt before the first pitch in spring.

We tackle the myths that hold families back—like months of total rest, “they’ll fix it at practice,” or “too young for strength”—and offer accessible options such as small group clinics to keep costs manageable without sacrificing quality coaching. The payoff is tangible: fewer injuries, faster skills, and a visible performance jump on day one next season. If you’re ready to trade guesswork for a plan, this guide will help you structure an offseason that compounds into real results. Subscribe, share with another sports parent, and leave a review to tell us what your athlete is prioritizing this winter.

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
The worst time to make major adjustments to fix
your swing is during the season.
The offseason is the secretweapon to success for serious
athletes.

SPEAKER_01 (00:10):
Raising athletes, the things that causes all dads
to go bald and moms to buyminivans, empowering parents to
help their kids succeed.

SPEAKER_00 (00:19):
Most parents don't realize that making major
mechanical changes to anathlete's swing can actually set
athletes back.
Instead of improving, manyathletes regress because they're
not being asked to perform andcompete while simultaneously
trying to overhaul theirfundamentals.
The off-season is where realgrowth happens, and that's where

(00:44):
you want to invest in yourchild's future success.
Professionals like Mike Trout,Jenny Finch, or Shohei Otani,
these are players who spend atremendous amount of time in the
offseason in intense training,fine-tuning mechanics,
increasing strength, focusing onrecovery.
They don't make these major bigchanges during the season.

(01:06):
And when the season ends, that'swhen the real work begins.
During the season, they'reactually just making little
corrections to keep them ontrack.
During the off-season is whenthey're actually making those
mechanical adjustments toprepare them for the next
season.
Here are some of the coreconcepts of why the offseason is

(01:28):
crucial for young athletes.
Let's break down why this timeof year, right after the fall
season ends, is actually thebest time for young athletes for
development.
Number one, freedom to focus onmechanics without the pressure
to perform.
Oftentimes, a lot of these youngathletes are trying to make the

(01:50):
cool new change or they'retrying to adopt a swing that
they've seen someone else doduring the season.
But the problem with doing that,the pressure's on the line.
You've got a game that you haveto perform to help your team
win.
And it's very hard to actuallybe successful when you don't
understand the mechanics, whenyou've yet to really perfect

(02:11):
those mechanical changes, andthey end up going into a slump.
During the off season, it's atime to build strength, speed,
and mobility without risking thein-game fatigue.
Also, it's a great time, it's anideal time to experiment with
things like different grips,stances, arm slots, swing paths.

(02:34):
This is a huge one right herebecause there are little things
like that that could make bigchanges.
For example, I have an athletethat I coach that recently
actually learned that they liketo use a double grip.
That's not for me, that's notfor a lot of athletes, but we
were able to experiment with itbecause of their grip style.

(02:55):
So we added a second grip toincrease that thickness of their
grip.
And guess what?
For them, it worked, but it tooksome time for them to understand
that.
It took some time for them toadjust to that grip, and they
were able to get a real a reallygreat result with it.
That took time learning.
Had we tried to implement thatin the in the middle of the

(03:17):
season, it would have been toooff.
It would have beenuncomfortable, and they would
not have gotten that sameresult.
Also, adjusting to newequipment, bigger bats, new
gloves, new cleats.
This is another really big onehere because as young athletes
grow, guess what?
They need a different glove.
They need a different bat.
And thrusting that new equipmenton them in the middle of a

(03:39):
season is not going to end well.
Adding a heavier bat, a longerbat in the middle of a season
when there's so many othervariables at play is basically
setting them up for failure.
And a young athlete who doesn'thave the emotional maturity to
handle that could get them intoa place where they get
disappointed, they getdiscouraged, and they want to

(03:59):
quit.
We want to avoid that.
Give them that best chance ofsuccess.
So leverage the offseason foryour opportunity to introduce
new equipment.
Also, the recovery from thesenagging pain, these nagging
injuries.
It helps them to rebuild betterand stronger.
Also, the mental reset and theability to reflect on last

(04:21):
season's performance and thencome up with a plan based on the
season for your off-seasondevelopment.
And then lastly, some of thesecore concepts, it helps to
jumpstart training beforeeveryone else does.
It's a huge competitiveadvantage to give a child an
opportunity to focus onstrengths, to focus on

(04:45):
strengthening their weaknesses,to adopt these new techniques.
Because we're talking aboutthis, because why?
It's actually not the obvioussolution for a lot of young
athletes and a young lot ofyoung parents who are maybe new
to this.
Your child is becoming more andmore serious about the sport.
They're getting a little bitolder now.

(05:07):
Now's the time to arm them withthe best chance of success.
And a lot of these tools thatwe're talking about is not
obvious to a lot of theseparents.
So it's a competitive advantageto those young athletes who
decide, you know what, I'm goingto take the off season to get
that instructor, that privatetraining, that one-on-one time,
that expert who's going to helpthat child really develop now in

(05:29):
that off season.
And when it comes now time forthat spring season, you're going
to notice a huge jump.
You're going to notice a hugechange.
It's hard for us to see thechanges day by day.
That 1% improvement every singleday, sometimes is not
noticeable.
But where you're going to seethe change is when you take an
entire offseason, you take thosethree to five months of working

(05:53):
with a personal trainer everysingle week, where you're going
to notice the difference is thatfirst game back, that first
practice back with their team inthe spring.
You're going to see how muchbetter your young athlete is in
comparison to everyone else whodid not have that private
instruction.
So, what specifically shouldathletes be doing during that

(06:15):
offseason?
Well, let's break down this bycategory by category for some
clarity for you guys.
And we're going to give you someactionable advice.
Let's talk about hitting first.
The one thing that you should bedoing right away, get private
lessons to refine the swingmechanics.
This is going to incorporate alot of T work and front toss and

(06:36):
video review by an expert who'sdone this a zillion times, who's
got experience playing themthemselves, that can really
analyze a young athlete's swingand make those adjustments for
improvement.
They're going to focus onadjusting the grip, hand
positioning, stride patterns.
There's a lot of things that achild can do when it comes to

(06:59):
hitting that an expert traineris going to reveal during their
analysis.
Pitching.
I can't talk about this enoughand stress the importance for
pitchers to have a qualityoffseason.
You don't want to go from thelast pitch in the fall to the
first pitch in the springwithout doing anything in

(07:20):
between and expect hugeimprovements.
It's not going to happen.
You can't just rely on pubertyand strength to be the
difference maker.
The offseason for a pitcher isthe perfect opportunity.
It is literally the time carvedout in the 12-month schedule for
your young athlete to belearning the proper pitching

(07:42):
mechanics, to learning a newpitch.
As their body gets bigger, therechanges to them, there should be
changes to their mechanics.
And you need a trainedprofessional that can come
alongside that athlete,understands where they're off
they are on their athleticjourney based on their age, when
they hit puberty, there's a lotof other factors, and know what

(08:03):
they should be learning next.
That's setting them up for realsuccess.
Now, another thing that youshould be working on with
pitching in the offseason iscommand.
Spin rates.
If you don't know what that is,you can refer to some of our
other episodes.
Velocity, you can unlockvelocity, uh throwing programs
to build up arm safety,introducing recovery programs to

(08:27):
keep them on the field longer.
You're gonna be focusing onmechanics without worrying about
the batters, which is a hugepsychological advantage to the
offseason.
Let's talk about fielding andcatching.
How about footwork drills,transfer speeds, throwing
accuracy, and timing?
And one of the most neglectedaspects of being an athlete.
Let's talk about speed,strength, agility, lateral

(08:50):
movement, first step quickness,resistance based uh strength
training.
Um, how about core stability andbalance?
Um, recovery mobility, injuryprevention.
These are all really importantaspects of training that you do
in the offseason that most youngathletes, and I'm gonna use that
strongly, most young athletesare not doing.

(09:12):
Yet it is the differential inbecoming a good athlete, going
from good to great, great toelite.
The elite athletes, they'redoing this.
So when you show up next springand you're like, oh, Johnny
Smith over here, holy cow, theygot so much better.
It's not by accident, it's onpurpose, it's intentional.

(09:34):
They went through an off-seasonprogram that adapted to where
they're there are in theirjourney, how old they are, where
they are in their in theirpuberty.
Guys, get let's just talk aboutit, right?
It's important, it's part of it.
For boys and girls, it's alsodifferent.
And they introduced then, basedon those factors, the proper
strength, agility, um, speed,mechanics that made them better.

(09:57):
Those are the kids showing upnext spring that are the studs
because they had a qualityoffseason.
Now, why private lessons andsmall group clinics work?
There's just six reasons.
One, it's personalizedcorrection and progression.
Two, the instructor can assessan athlete's strengths and weak
weaknesses.
Three, athletes gain confidencein learning without peer

(10:21):
pressure.
Four, it creates structure androutine in the offseason.
Five, it's an opportunity tobuild relationships with great
coaches.
Six, it nurtures the passion andit matters.
Athletes need a mentor just asmuch as they need a workout.

(10:43):
For my favorite segment, we'regoing to be busting myths as it
relates to our theme today.
Myth number one, they need abreak from all sports.
The truth?
Yes, but strategic rest doesn'tmean a three to five month
layoff.
Myth?

(11:04):
Oh, she'll figure it out duringthe practices.
The truth, mechanics are hard,and they're really, really hard
to fix in a practice with 12other kids on the team in that
practice.
That child needs focused time tobe able to improve.
Three, they're too young forstrength training.

(11:24):
Well, the truth, with the rightcoach, even a 10-year-old can
build strength safely that helpsthem in the future.
Last myth of the day, it's tooexpensive.
Here's the truth.
Most programs offer small groupsessions that make it

(11:44):
affordable.
Think of it as investing in yourathlete's growth.
So if one-on-one training is notin the cards on for you right
now, find a really, really goodsmall group clinic that your
child can participate in that isnot as expensive, but they're
still getting that really goodquality training in the
offseason.
So, what are the risks involvedin allowing your athlete to wait

(12:08):
until the next season to starttraining and practicing again?
Well, here are some of theserisks.
First, the athlete is gonna bebehind everyone else who did, in
fact, work during the winter.
Also, there's not gonna beenough time to fix the flaws
during practice leading up tothe first game.
The confidence is gonna sufferwhen the results don't show up.

(12:31):
You know this as parents, you'veseen it during the season.
Also, the risk of injury isgonna increase from lack of
preparation.
And lastly, coaches notice who'sready and who is not.
I want to encourage all youparents, because we're all
raising our athletes together,to really do some research on

(12:51):
some quality programs and localinstructors that you can enroll
your kids into that privatelesson or into that small group
clinic.
You are going to see thebenefits of this.
And you may not see it afterthat first lesson or the first
month of the small groupclinics.
You will, I promise, you willnotice it that first time back
next season when they're backwith their team in that first

(13:14):
practice and in that first game.
Because your child is gonna runfaster, hit harder, and throw
more accurate than anyone else.
Why?
Because they had focusedtraining with an experienced
instructor.
Champions are made in theoffseason.
If you wait until spring, it'stoo late.
I want to encourage you to reachout to a trusted local program

(13:36):
like R3 Athlete Performance,located in Hotesville, New York,
to get on the schedule beforethe slots fill up.
Your child will thank you forit, and you will actually love
the results that you get.
Because remember, there's a waythat you can have your child
instructed where they'relearning things that are hard,
they're going through thingsthat are a little bit different.

(13:59):
But guess what?
They're also developing a loveand a passion and an
appreciation for the sport.
Getting them to love the processis so good for that child long
term because they learn every,they learn to love every aspect
of the sport, not just playingin the game and hitting the home
run, but they're loving andappreciating and respecting the

(14:21):
training that goes along withit.
The off season is your time tohelp your child develop into a
champion.
We'll see you next time onRaising Athletes.