Are Baseball players the least conditioned athletes in team sports?

[JBH3]

Quote: Originally Posted by Recon64bit

I can see what you guys are saying by the 162 games a season, and the hard thrown baseballs causing injuries, but I still say that athleticism should be held to a higher standard in the league. I'm not saying that the fatsos (lol) in the league should slim down a lot, I can see they might need the weight to keep the power, but turning that fat into muscle could lead to better results, and is just plain healthy in the long run. Isn't health important too?

Team's have standards. They're not in line w/ the NBA/NFL because they don't need to be, and a small percentage of guys are Fielder's and Carlos Silva's.

[ehh]

It doesn't surprise me at all that baseball players get hurt a lot. There is so much downtime and standing around that it's impossible to keep loose/warm. Not to mention that swinging a bat is torture on your core.

In basketball you're in constant motion, keeping your muscles warm and the blood flowing. Football is stop and go, but at least you're consistently going full speed on every play (unless you're Randy Moss).

In baseball, you could literally be doing nothing for 2.5 hours and then all of a sudden you have to sprint 200 yards when your muscles/body is essentially ice cold. Not good for the body.

But yes, obviously baseball players are the least athletic pros out of the Big 3 sports and in the worst shape across the board. The media goes nuts for guys like Carl Crawford when he's an average NBA/NFL athlete. Fat lineman in football may look gross, but they're stronger than any baseball player and have to battle it out in the trenches for an entire game. That's way more taxing than anything you can do on a baseball field.

[dickey1331]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tarheel

To add some perspective... I played 1st base in baseball (high school) and LB in football (high school and college)...no way are the conditioning requirements the same. Like someone said earlier, baseball is about skill where as football is more about physical conditioning. Not to knock baseball but it takes a month to recover from the end of a football season, but about a week for baseball. As far as bruises and cuts...there are just as many ways to get hurt in football just as there are in baseball. Hitting someone's facemask with your forearm or slamming into your own teammate happens everyday in football.

Its also different playing 1st base in high school compared to the outfield in MLB. People who cant field play 1B.

[Scottdau]

Quote: Originally Posted by stewaat

Stupid thread is stupid Sorry they can't all look like this: Or this... They definitely run wind sprints all day and never come out of the game

Dang Chris Johnson let himself go big time.

[Tarheel]

Quote: Originally Posted by dickey1331

Its also different playing 1st base in high school compared to the outfield in MLB. People who cant field play 1B.

Not sure what you're hinting at. Plus the 1B not being a good fielder is a stereotype and really a misconception. Speed wise that may be slowest person but fielding wise that is totally false.

[dickey1331]

Quote: Originally Posted by Tarheel

Not sure what you're hinting at. Plus the 1B not being a good fielder is a stereotype and really a misconception. Speed wise that may be slowest person but fielding wise that is totally false.

Yes but thats why Fielder and Ortiz play 1B or DH. Fitness wise I would say 1B is the easiest.

[DieHardYankee26]

Like other people have said,

It's not that baseball players are not conditioned, it's that they go through a different type of conditioning. They are conditioned to play the sport for over 180+ games in 7 months. Football players are pretty much conditioned to go all out for 60 minutes, be in massive pain the next day, and heal up by Wednesday so they can do it all again next Sunday. It's like running the mile vs. a sprint. Baseball players are conditioned for endurance with random bursts of top speed running, while football players are trained to go all out and get beat up for 60 minutes.

[CMH]

Different sports require different conditioning. No amount of conditioning will prevent the injuries that players experience while playing baseball.

One of the major reasons you see many groin pulls in baseball compared to basketball or football is the simple truth that baseball is a sport that makes you go full speed at several, sudden short intervals.

While basketball is constantly moving, players are not asked to go full speed every time down court. You jog back to defense (ok, faster than a jog but you're not going full speed to get back into position), and then the real toll is the constant moving back and forth, side-to-side, plant, turn, plant, turn. All of that obviously creates the great number of ankle/lower leg injuries you see in basketball.

But you're very rarely asked to go full speed for several, sudden short intervals. Everything is within the flow of the game.

Football can be similar, though more demanding once the ball is in the air or you're chasing a player. But again, it's all within the flow. If you're a linebacker watching your assignment, you're moving side-to-side anticipating the play and then once the play has developed, you are bursting forward from movement. It's not sudden stop and go. The one position that is more sudden stop and go is running back and I'd bet that is why most running backs are done by 30. People can say the hits, but hits don't damage your legs. The sudden stopping and going full speed does.

In baseball, you swing a bat and then suddenly have to move full speed down to first. You're in the outfield and suddenly a shot is hit toward your left and you're running full speed to get to the ball. You're at second and a liner is hit toward the left hole and you're running full speed to field the ball and throw it.

Several, sudden bursts of full speed at short intervals. That's damage to the body. And they do it every day.

edit: Why is it that I only saw "Why are Baseball PLayers The..." when I was scanning the board and knew instantly that this was going to be about conditioning.