How to Warm Up for Baseball

Let’s face it; baseball players have no idea how to properly warm up before a game. Think about what you see every high school and most college teams do before games. They will usually jog one or two poles and then perform 5-10 minutes of static stretches while also bullshitting about what they did last night. I am sure these same teams still have their pitchers running poles because it will help improve endurance. It amazes me that coaches still live and die by static stretching and long distance running. They serve absolutely no benefit to becoming a better baseball player and can actually lead to injuries.

A complete warm up includes soft tissue work, basic calisthenics, mobility work, and CNS work. For the most part, I avoid static stretching because it can actually increase your risk of injury and can reduce power output. However, I have actually found that certain static stretches can actually improve mobility including: hip flexor stretch, pyriformis stretch, lat stretch, and the sleeper stretch,

What does a baseball warm up look like?

After 5-10 minutes of soft tissue work with a foam roller and lacrosse ball, my athletes perform this exact warm up. When it is nice out we will go outside and perform a movement prep which includes various forms of running, skipping and jumping. We follow this up with a few minutes of static stretching to open up the hips.

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Joe Meglio

Performance Enhancement Coach

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