I am starting a series on navigating the surplus of baseball and strength coaches available to high school/middle school athletes. The space is currently so crowded and almost all of them promise to deliver the same results.
“I/We can get you a scholarship to play in college.”
Choosing a coach to assist your development, trust, and career is an extremely difficult decision, which is why many players stay with the same coach they started with when they were very young. There is some benefit from committing to a consistent coaching philosophy, but how do you know you are getting the most out of your training?
To this day, I still believe that playing college baseball knocked me into a completely different path through life, a better life. I inherited an expansive network and received daily practice in real world lessons like competition, time management, and conflict resolution that could not be simulated in any other environment. If you choose your trainer correctly, it can change your life for the better. Playing a college sport could give you a life you would not have lived otherwise. If you choose incorrectly, the remainder of your baseball days (and possibly life) could be spent wondering “What could have been?” This brings me to my first major question that every family should ask when evaluating a coach.
Is this coach bragging about 5-10 success stories, or does he tout a program customized to individual athletes?
I like to make comparisons with Bryce Harper when I talk to prospective college baseball players and their parents because Harper was such an elite talent at such a young age. Whoever trained him has one of the game’s best youth success stories and likely took credit for Harper’s success as a recruitment tactic to get more players to join their program.
The truth of Harper is that ANYONE could have “made” him an elite player throughout middle school and high school. He is the true definition of generational talent. MLB scouts marveled at his raw talent…keyword being “raw”, meaning he was largely underdeveloped but as projectable as they come. Teams knew he needed development to play in The Show when they scouted him as a 16-17-year-old, but his talent alone made him too desirable to pass on.
How do you train a generational talent? Don’t overcoach them.
Throw some BP to a young Harper. Give him a standard strength program. Stay out of his way until he’s in an MLB organization and let them develop him into a player that can compete for a long time at the highest level.
So, if a coach comes to you and says he trained Harper, that should mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to you. Those results can’t be duplicated at a young age. Success stories from coaches mean nothing, because each player has a different level of skill that needs to be addressed. If you’re a sophomore on JV, a standard lifting program and coach-pitch BP won’t have the same effect on you as it did a 16-year-old Bryce Harper. You might need something a little more tailored to your skill set to get you to the next level as quickly as possible.
The success of high-level players should NEVER validate their coach or trainer. It’s incredible how many coaches have a high-level player walk into their gym, eventually go on to achieve great things, and the coach will tout that player as proof of the coach’s brilliant philosophy.
In situations like this, great athletes look for coaches who have been around hundreds of players at varying skill levels. These coaches can bring the most out of their players. Whether a generational talent walks or a true newcomer enters an experienced coach’s facility, the coach will tailor a specific program to maximize the gains they achieve. An undersized freshman can become an elite player and a D1/MLB prospect as a junior if they have a plan meant to improve their weaknesses and polish their strengths.
Most players aren’t generational talents, and the difference between mid-major D1 and D3/JUCO is razor thin. Choosing the right coach that has been around enough variations of natural talent can be the difference between just getting better and becoming the best player one can possibly be. As a player, you want to hit your ceiling eventually and know that when you stop playing baseball, whether it is at 18 or 40 years old, that you realize the full power of your potential.