The Importance of Maintaining your Health While Playing The Game

By Frankie Wallace
Updated: January 5, 2022

There’s nothing better than the first league game after a long winter offseason. Putting on your glove for the first time in months, playing catch with your teammates, and the sweet sound of wood striking a leather ball on a sunny afternoon — it makes all your hard work feel worthwhile.

As fulfilling as the game of baseball is, it does come with its fair share of injuries, scrapes, and accidents. As a player, it’s in your best interest to take a proactive approach to maintain your health, so when March comes around you know you’ll be ready to play.

Here are a few ways you can take control of your health and stay in the game longer.

Warm-Up

Before you take to the pitcher’s mound or step up the plate, you need to be properly warmed up. A good warm-up will mitigate the chances of injury and will help you prepare both mentally and physically.

Your warm-up should raise your temperature and be specific to the skills and activities you are about to complete. This means the majority of your warm-up should engage you in position-specific drills and movements that work up a light sweat and help you find your groove.

As a pitcher, you should start with a light jog, then get right into a pitcher’s warm-up. To do this, you can start with shorter throws at about half the distance between the mound and the batting plate. Slowly move back to the full distance you will be pitching at, but only use a moderate amount of power while you limber up. Towards the end of your routine, throw a few fastballs and try to work on a few simple techniques like speed control.

If you’re a batter, raise your body temperature with light cardio activity, then complete a short dynamic warm-up — this will engage your nervous system and help you lock in. When your body feels ready, take up your spot in the batting cage and slowly ramp up to game-like speed.

A good warm-up will improve your performance and help you maintain your health as you will avoid injuries and increase your body’s physical ability.

Recovery

After the game and celebrations end, it’s your job to focus on recovery. Active recovery techniques like hydration and stretching will reduce your chance of injury and will help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

The diet you follow will make a big difference to your recovery efforts. A good diet for baseball is balanced but is generally higher in protein than most conventional diets as this will improve recovery. You should also take on foods that promote brain health, like fatty fish, blueberries, dark chocolate, and whole grains.

Your ability to recover also relies heavily on your efforts to rehydrate fatigued muscles. Baseball is a summer sport, so your best option is to take on fluids that are dense in sodium throughout the day following your game.

Strength and Conditioning

Good strength and conditioning (S&C) programs can turn your noodle arm into a canon. However, many folks misunderstand the purpose of S&C and undertake strength-based programs which actually hurt their athletic based-performance.

Finding the right S&C programs is all about context. A program that works well for a college athlete should not be followed by little leaguers or vice-versa. Equally, an S&C program for batters won’t produce the same positive results if a pitcher gets on it.

Good S&C programs rely upon empirical evidence and expert experience. They are also flexible, and the methods should be agreed upon between a coach and athlete. However, if you’re an aspiring athlete without a strength coach, you can still find great resources online like programs for pitchers and programs for batters. These programs will give you a strong base of physical fitness, but will also ensure your athletic performance improves.

Dealing with Injuries

Injuries occur in all sports, and — unless you live a charmed life — will likely happen to you as well. It might seem like the end of the world, but overcoming injuries is all about your mental approach and connecting with the right medical professionals.

Unfortunately, we are currently experiencing a nationwide physician shortage, and the Association of American Medical Colleges currently predicts a shortfall of 122,000 physicians by 2032. While this won’t impact MLB stars, most players under the college level might need to plan ahead in case of an emergency.

First and foremost, you need to be aware of your closest urgent care room as getting the right treatment quickly can make a big difference down the line. However, if an injury is beyond the services of an urgent care room, then you need to find an ER — particularly if you have broken bones or any difficulty breathing.

Some of the most common injuries in baseball come from poor technique and overuse. Overcoming these kinds usually requires you to team up with medical professionals and coaches who can diagnose the source of your injury, and help you remedy the crutch you’ve developed. Athletic trainers and physicians will also be able to hook you up with some amazing technology that is revolutionizing the way baseball players prevent injuries and manage pre-existing conditions.

Maintaining your health requires a proactive, health-conscious approach to your life in and out of baseball. You should ensure your diet aligns with your goals and can work with strength and conditioning coaches who will help improve your performance. If you do find yourself nursing an injury, reach out to medical professionals and ensure you get the help you need.