There are many lessons to be learned from great athletes in other sports that can be applied to baseball. The names that come to mind immediately probably consist of Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, or Tom Brady…and for good reason. However, today’s example comes from an athlete who entered global prominence only a few years ago as a young tennis phenom: Carlos Alcaraz.
A friend of mine sent me a video yesterday of Carlos Alcaraz training, shortly after defeating all-time great Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open, thus clinching his 7th Major title and completing the career Grand Slam…oh, and he is only 22 years old. In the video, Alcaraz is practicing the toss for his serve, which is likely the most tedious skill in tennis. He stands in the sun, tossing the ball in the air, and letting it hit the ground without moving the racquet from his side. His only goal is to toss the ball through a miniature basketball hoop held by his trainer. This drill showcases two prime examples of how all athletes, especially baseball players, can take their talents to a higher level.
Example 1: Mastering the Basics
In tennis, the serve is key. It’s the only time during a point where a player is guaranteed a clean look at a shot, and therefore, holds a distinct advantage over their opponent. So, if the toss is off, the advantage is immediately eliminated. Not good.
The foundation of any sport is essential to achieving greatness. You likely won’t be a good hitter if you pop up and roll over balls on the tee whilst warming up. How could that possibly translate to a moving baseball in batting practice? Or a live game situation where the baseball is not only moving, but the pitcher actively trying to beat you? If you’re already beating yourself when the ball is not moving, you’re hopeless come game time.
Example 2: Making Training Fun
There is an objective to Alcaraz’s drill: make a basket. He is replacing tedious action with a reward system that allows him positive feedback when he performs a good toss, and negative feedback when he has a bad rep. How many baskets could he make in a row? 10? 50? 100? He always has a number that he can beat, or a goal to achieve before he can move onto the next thing, for example, make 10 baskets in a row.
Let’s bring this back to the tee in baseball. If the goal is to hit a line drive to the back of the cage without hitting the top of the cage or the ground, how many could you hit in a row? If I gave any big leaguer 5 balls to hit off a tee, how many line drives to the back net would he hit? Probably all 5. How many would you hit? If the answer is not five, it’s time to revisit how you hit off a tee. Make it fun, compete with yourself. Soon your records will go from 5 or 10 in a row to 30, 40, or even 50 in a row.
Compounding Growth
Let’s frame this another way. If you show up every day and hit 100 balls off the tee, and 3 of every 5 are successful line drives, that means you had 60 good reps out of 100. If your buddy who comes to hit with you hits 4 of every 5 into the back net, that’s 80 good reps out of 100. That means he just improved by 20x the amount you did. Maybe one day doesn’t create that much of a difference. However, if 10,000 successful reps is mastery, that means your competition will master that skill in 125 days, whereas you will master it 41 days later!
In the competitive landscape of college baseball recruiting, where mere days make all the difference, you don’t have 6 weeks to relinquish to your competition. Coaches can fill recruiting classes in less than half that time! Your coaches and teammates will admire your friend and his improvement. They will say he rakes, bat him 3rd, get him more opportunities to showcase in front of colleges while you still toil away. Not to mention, as you continue to progress at the same rate, your competition will continue to create a gap between their skill level and yours.
Be the player who has a death grip on the fundamentals and creates a gap between themself and their opposition. Once the change to deliberate, perfect training of basics is made, you will see exponential growth in the other more difficult aspects of the game.