Preparation for the baseball season begins long before the first pitch is thrown. Starting in the summer, players and coaches focus on building the foundation for the spring season.
During the offseason, players have their own strength and conditioning routines to improve speed, power and endurance. Weight training, agility work and mobility exercises are required weekly. Players are also expected to find time for individual skill development, including hitting, pitching and fielding sessions. This work is done without anyone watching, allowing players that put in the most work to leave an impression later on.
Varsity starter, sophomore Chase Johnson, shared his experience training in the offseason and how putting extra work in is the key to success.
“It’s a lot of solo work. You need to be working on your skills in the offseason so we can work well as a team during the season,” Johnson said, “There is still a lot of Redwood training, but you need to put in work yourself to reach the next level.”
The offseason is when players work to improve their weaknesses to reach a higher potential as a player and as a team during the season.
Junior catcher Ethan Ferry elaborated on his rigorous offseason training with and without the team.
“In the offseason, I’m lifting multiple times a week and constantly down at the field with the team, doing live at-bats or field work to get better. Leading up to the season, we also went to yoga twice a week to not neglect mobility and prevent injury,” Ferry said.
Once the offseason work is completed, winter ball starts. Winter ball is a program that allows Marin County Athletic League players to start practicing in the wintertime. This helps teams to build chemistry, shake off rust and make needed improvements before the spring season starts.
“Winter ball is a program that most of the Redwood guys do,” Ferry said, “It gets you in front of the coaches and lets them evaluate us, giving everyone a good opportunity to get on the field earlier.”
After winter ball, tryouts begin and coaches aim to select the most skilled players that offer the best fit for the team. Over three days, athletes are evaluated on their skills, effort and attitude. Coaches consider how players respond to pressure, interact with teammates and show coachability.
“The cuts depend on who tries out—there aren’t many. We most of the time know who is going to be on the team from winter ball,” Ferry said.
Once the team is selected, official practices begin to build teamwork and prep for games. Players run drills in fielding, hitting and communication to get ready for game-day pressure.
During practices, players often train in groups by position. Outfielders work with other outfielders, infielders work together and pitchers and catchers train amongst themselves.
“We normally have mostly batting days or fielding days,” Johnson said, “We
work on what we struggled with in the last game. If we let up a lot of runs, we’ll work on fielding, but if we don’t hit well, we’ll work on that.”
In addition to physical preparation, coaches help the team study opponents and learn from past performances to prepare for upcoming games. Practice plans are adjusted weekly based on team needs and opponent weaknesses.
“One time, we were playing Marin Catholic and we knew the first baseman couldn’t throw very well, so we worked on steals from first base, testing him to make the throw,” Johnson said.
The team may develop game plans to take advantage of an opponent’s weaknesses, but the emphasis remains on internal performance.
“We know if we go out onto the field and play to our potential, no team can beat us. It’s confidence in ourselves and the program we’ve built here at Redwood,” Ferry said.
Preparation may not always be visible from the stands, but for the baseball team, it’s what turns potential into performance.
