Offseason Workout Recommendations for Baseball Players.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review and expert recommendations without systematic review methodology
PubMed 33635521 · doi:10.1007/s12178-021-09700-z
What was done
This narrative review synthesized the physical and biomechanical demands of baseball, common sport-specific injuries, and current strength and conditioning principles. The authors outlined typical periodization phases and presented a sample offseason training program for professional baseball players spanning September through February.
What was found
The abstract reports no quantitative experimental data or statistical metrics. It describes qualitative biomechanical principles, noting that while traditional exercises focus on the sagittal plane, baseball demands equal emphasis on frontal and transverse planes. It highlights biomechanical evidence indicating trunk rotation power has the greatest influence on pitching velocity, and lists common injury targets including hamstring strains, throwing arm injuries, paralumbar muscle strains, hip adductor strains, and oblique muscle strains.
Why it matters
It offers a sport-specific framework and sample periodization schedule tailored to baseball players, contrasting general sagittal-plane lifting with multi-planar demands.
Limits
The paper is a narrative review and expert recommendation rather than an empirical trial or systematic review. The abstract does not evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed sample program with patient or athletic outcome data.