The time frame right before the preseason is the most exciting and stressful for many athletes. Being able to walk into the tryouts or the season feeling prepared to one’s full potential is what every player dreams to have accomplished but only a few feel. The first couple of weeks are very crucial to show the coach that you have the potential to be a starter.

             The rustiness has to be wiped off before the tryouts and the player has to feel like the best athlete he or she is capable of being for the team. One of the most common things to do during the off-season is to hit the gym and start to get bigger. Triton senior Will Gundrum stated that he has been “hitting the gym, getting reps of swings with my batting coach, and taking ground balls on turf.” For this reason, working out helps baseball players with batting power, driving the ball harder and farther, as well as throwing the ball faster and faster. Baseball players love to hear the whistle the ball makes if you throw it hard enough. The gym can help a baseball player in many ways and in different aspects. For example, working out your legs will help with power while up to the plate and for pitchers it helps the power and velocity coming off the mound breaking to the plate. Most players play another sport or play baseball full time all year. Players that play another sport need to take some time to get used to using different muscles and fundamentals. While playing all year does benefit the player from always working and improving on the basics until the season comes back around in the warm spring air. 

Baseball is a sport that has multiple different aspects to practice and regain comfortability. Those aspects are properly fielding ground balls or tracking pop-flys, as well as getting your arm back into throwing all the time. Players that jump right into the season without training their arm are more likely to hurt their “wing”. Triton senior Andrew Mauri said that he “starts to condition my arm a couple of months before tryouts, I try to hit the gym so I can get my pitch speed faster than last year.” The arm is your best friend in baseball, hurting your arm while in season takes a lot of time to heal so conditioning your arm is key before the season. For any ballplayer, it is very important to get your arm as accurate as possible, either being able to throw the ball at any basemen’s chest or hitting your cut off in the outfield.  Lastly, the most important part of baseball you’d like to practice the most is to get some swings and get the stance that’s most preferred to back into shape to be the absolute best once you hit the diamond. Hitting is the same thing as offense in baseball, without any offense you don’t win games so it’s important to practice and get more comfortable while at the plate.

The preparation of a new season is very important if the athlete actually cares for the game. Triton junior Stone Butler stated “I’m trying to show Coach that I have what it takes to be a starting varsity player this year.”Showing the coach that you have improved over the off-season shows a lot of character and may help you get to a starting position. Many high school players don’t start to get back into the game until a couple weeks before the season but to succeed in a particular sport it takes time to get everything back together. Taking the time to get ready for a sport shows dedication and that you actually care and want to improve at the game.