Organization

I have none of it. I have no organized baseball in my life. It's so depressing because now I have to schedule my baseball around school, but I prefer the other way around.

The weather is getting worse, rain coming down, and a little colder. Being a responsible collegiate athlete, I do my share of conditioning but more important to me is to get the baseball drills in.

I made a vow I wouldn't throw until practice starts up again, which is the very beginning of February. For the past 3-4 years, I never took a break from throwing and I think I'm finally mature enough to shut it down and let it rest and heal whatever damage has been done to it. Throwing is said to be such an unnatural movement, the damage done by throwing can be brutal. In fact, the shoulder can only generate approximately 40 lbs. of force, and that's almost exactly how much force professional pitchers are using. Meaning, they are maxing out their arms when they play. That is why arm care is so important, and even then, it's not enough.

So hitting is where my main focus is at, in terms of baseball specific drills that I do on my own. If I can find someone to swing with me (which gets tough because classes are at different times and it gets dark so early), then I can take real BP, but that's a rarity these days, because of weather and especially with midterms and class projects that are eating my time and holding me back. So generally I'm doing a lot of tee work. Trying to optimize my power. That's what I do. My problem with hitting hasn't necessarily been a contact issue or chasing bad pitches, it's that mechanically, I'm not as good as I can be.

So, I'm trying to stay optimistic, because spring practice will start before I know it. I have a couple weeks left to the semester, some winter break, a week or two of school, and it will start. OK, it's a while, but the bright side is that I have time to improve.