Win In The Gym

While baseball players may not have a sport as physically demanding as say football, hockey, or even basketball, while playing their respective games, they need to train just as hard if they want to be the best. While the others are more physical games, baseball is a 162 game grind that will eat you up and spit you out if you aren’t ready for it. It’s becoming more and more apparent who is working hard throughout the year, when people are watching, and when no one is. There are guys like Paul Konerko who train hard and it shows. The 35 year old has been playing as good as ever, even while aging past what most people would have called his prime. The 2010 and ’11 seasons have treated him well as he has hit 30+ homeruns each season, the first time since ’07, and his OBP is the highest it’s ever been. He’s really just hitting amazingly well for what logic would tell you he should be doing. Konerko gets it done in the gym, he was a guy who lived in the weight room and Hit The Cage, all offseason. It paid off. "Physically, you have to work more. That's the number one thing in my mind. The older you get, the harder you have to work off the field to make sure you can still get out there every day and play 150 games a season, plus to have a chance to go out and have a good season. You can't do the same things - at least I can't - as when I was 25," says Konerko. Since ’01 he has never played less than 122 games, the past two years he played 149, he’s working hard, clearly. Another workout buff, Brian Wilson of the San Francisco Giants puts it down in the gym. Trevor Hoffman, a guy who knows a thing or two about being a "good" closer said this about Wilson, "I've had a chance to see him from the other side of the field and his workout regimen and how hard he prepares to be as good as he can be when he hits the mound. He's taken his craft seriously. I truly appreciate that.” The whole San Francisco team really got into shape before their championship in 2010. Dave Groeschner pushed them hard; he took over right before their world series victory and should be recognized as a great head athletic trainer in the game of baseball. He helped Sandoval drop weight, which Sandoval was very excited about, and wanted to lose more. He also wanted to steal more bases. That may not have happened yet, but who knows. Hard work pays off, and the Giants know that. I don’t want to bring it up, but the Boston Red Sox have been accused of not being in top notch shape and look where their season ended up. It crumbled down the stretch. I say if you want to be a serious threat in baseball, hit the weights, hit the cage, really just work hard. Baseball is no longer a sport where out of shape players can expect to get away with not working hard anymore, plain and simple.