Steve Bernhardt: Building the Better BallplayerIn the last week, I have spent a lot of time shoveling snow. Here in Baltimore, we received 50” of snow in a five day stretch. As I piled snow higher than my head on the sides of walkways, driveways and cars, I taxed muscles that had not been awakened in some time. Hours of doing this also gave me plenty of time alone with my thoughts. One thought involved the type of shape I would be in if this kind of shoveling was a daily routine for me.
It made me remember a scouting term that I have heard before: “farm boy strong.” This term is used to describe a young player who is naturally thick and strong referencing young men who grew up on a farm and developed their strength by doing difficult manual labor on a daily basis. These guys are hard to find these days. We see many more “soft-bodied” prospects than “farm boy strong” prospects. Society has changed with more jobs done by automated machines than in generations past, but it is also widely chronicled that today’s young players spend more time playing video games and staring at the computer than ever before.
When Mickey Mantle was growing up he worked in the lead mines in the summers. One of his jobs involved smashing large rocks into smaller ones with a sledgehammer. Some credit his immense wrist and forearm strength to this. Hank Aaron and Ernie Banks both worked in the cotton fields as young men building naturally strong hands from their hours of picking cotton. These “farm boy strong” players combined for 1,803 home runs in their storied careers. As the rules continue to eliminate players with chemically enhanced strength, I think the player with some skill and natural strength will become an extremely hot commodity.Maybe some of today’s young high school players should pick their summer jobs not based on which is the easiest, but by which will build up some usable strength for them in the future. It paid off for guys like Mantle, Banks and Aaron.
Steve Bernhardt is the Executive VP of Baseball Operations with Baseball Factory. Bernhardt played for five years in the Colorado Rockies organization. As Executive VP of Baseball Operations at Baseball Factory, he oversees all events and instruction. Bernhardt formerly served as an Associate Scout with the Colorado Rockies. He received his B.S. from the University of Richmond where he was an All-Conference player.
4 comments:
Spend a summer in a Wisconsin....you will be farm boy strong
This is funny because my son Jimmy is instructed by Chris Yetter at Baseball Factory. And both he and Matt Schilling told us to read this article because it was about my son Jimmy...lol. He is 14 yrs old and 6"2' tall and strong as an ox! LOL You are soo right. My son works on a rescue farm when he is off from school lifting 50 lbs bales of hay for 70 or so horses. He loves it! He is the last kid you would see playing video games. When we had all that snow he's out hitting baseballs! I ask him how he would find the balls? He says, "Mom, snow melts". lol
This is SO true. Many elderly hay farmers in this area are being forced out of the hay crop because they can't find young men to 'put up' hay anymore - even for decent pay! Farm work builds a fully- fit body better than any weight room training, and I wish coaches would encourage their boys to seek out healthy physical work instead of hours on the weight bench.
Steve,thanks for the great training tip.I'll be looking for the sledgehammer. Here in the Northern Rockies we have plenty of rocks to bust up.Heck we even named our baseball team after them.
It was fun chatting with you in the warm Florida sunshine last November at Pirate City.
The thought of you shoveling snow over your head makes me weepy.
It's been a dry winter here.Hopefully our ballfields melt out sooner and we can get on some dirt.
Thanks again hard work does pay off.
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