Slammers Bitzer 2027 layered in speed work twice per week over the course of the 6-week, Slammers Fall High School program. The goal was to improve acceleration and top-speed and to do so in a concise, fun, and competitive way.
Process
13 members of Slammers Bitzer 2027 completed a Loden Sports evaluation on August 21, 2023 before the speed program was layered into their fall training. The same evaluation was completed on October 11, 2023 after the completion of 11, 15-20 minute sessions (5 acceleration, 6 top-speed). The 10-yard split of the 30-yard sprint was used as the measure for acceleration and the split between 10-yards and 30-yards (we’ll call it a Fly 20) was used as the measure for top-speed.
After the initial evaluations in August, the team was split in half by their 30-yard sprint times. Each team’s average 30-yard sprint time from August was equal – creating two, roughly equal teams. A player from each team was selected at random as captain for their team for the speed-sessions: Hayden Homami and Mikey Kroll. By introducing a team element from the first day, we distanced ourselves from the “drilling” nature of speed work that so many players dread.
Every Monday, the athletes completed a 15-20 minute acceleration session. Every Wednesday, the athletes completed a 15-20 minute top-speed session.
Acceleration
Acceleration is important for baseball players for many reasons. Notably, getting a good jump on the base paths and on the defensive side of the ball. On acceleration days, we built our program off of continuous broad jumps and 15-yard hill sprints. We also mixed in some relays that targeted shorts bursts and quick brakes. Athletes from each team competed against each other head-to-head for distance in the continuous broad jumps and for speed in the hill sprints.
While sessions lasted no longer than 15-20 minutes, we gradually increased load on acceleration days from around 24 jumps and 75 yards of sprint work to 30 jumps and around 150 yards of sprint work.
Top-Speed
Top-speed is important for baseball players for many reasons. A baseball athlete typically reaches top-speed around 20-25 yards into a sprint. A few obvious areas where top-speed plays for a baseball player: running the bases and on the defensive side of the ball – where faster players are more likely to find a long-term home in the middle of the field as the game gets faster. A non-obvious reason? It’s correlated to throwing and hitting the ball harder.
On top-speed days, we built our program off of continuous vertical jumps (pogos) and variations of 30-yard sprints. Athletes from each team competed against each other head-to-head for speed in the sprint variations.
Like the acceleration sessions, each top-speed session lasted no longer than 15-20 minutes. We gradually increased load on top-speed days from around 40 jumps and 120 yards of sprint work to 60 jumps and around 180 yards of sprint work.
Results + Commentary
This team moved mountains in just 6 weeks.
Each of the 13 players either improved their 10-yard split, 30-yard split or both during the fall period – even more impressive considering that this was an active travel period for the team.
The average 10-yard split change was an improvement of .02 seconds; the average Fly 20 change was an improvement of .06 seconds; and the average 30-yard sprint time change was an improvement of .08 seconds.
9/13 players improved their 10-yard split.
Mikey Kroll, Nick Martinez, and Brady Wright all improved their 10-yard splits by .09 seconds.
10/13 players improved their Fly 20.
Hayden Homami, Cole Bobbin, and Gavin Marsh all improved their Fly 20 by more than .1 seconds.
6/13 players improved both their 10-yard split and Fly 20.
Jake Clark (.15 sec), Bryson Bellapianta (.15 sec), Gavin Marsh (.14 sec), and Brady Wright (.13 sec) showed the greatest overall improvement in their 30-yard sprint time (10-yard split plus Fly 20).
For the athletes on Slammers Bitzer 2027, it’ll be important that they continue to work speed into their weekly plans through the offseason – if you don’t use it, you lose it. To continue to accelerate their growth as athletes, they should all be making plans to get in the gym to build and bolster the strength foundation that is necessary to continue to make speed gains.
30-40 total minutes of speed work per week is LOW-HANGING FRUIT for youth and high school baseball teams.