A question I occasionally hear is “If weighted baseball training is such a good idea, why aren’t more players and teams using this type of training? Why isn't professional baseball?” Well,  I hear from pro ball players all the time that more players and teams ARE using weighted baseballs as part of their training. The process is slow, but progress is being made. At the NCAA D-1and other college divisions, they are more widely used.

     Of the four major league sports, baseball is the slowest to adopt new methods in any aspect of the game. For evidence, read “Money Ball,” a book that has been largely ignored by MLB.  This aversion to change is widely acknowledged. But why is this so? Here's my theory.

     I’ll start by saying it has little to do with tradition. MLB will change its policies/procedures in a NY minute if it can make more money in the process.

     It has everything to do with the people who run the system. MLB is the ultimate “good ol’ boys” club. While this may seem obvious, there are some deeper issues at work. To illustrate, let’s compare MLB with the NBA and the NFL.

     Every player that enters the NBA and NFL has anywhere from 2-4 years of college education. In recent years, the NBA has been drafting more high school players, but these are a distinct minority.  How diligent athletes are in becoming educated is perhaps debatable, but recent NCAA D-1 statistics indicate a graduation rate of 62% for all  athletes vs. a 60% rate for non-athletes. The NFL, of course, does not draft high school players.

     In the early years of the MLB draft, more high school than college players were selected. In recent decades, opportunities to attend college have greatly expanded, with more players going the college route. Therefore, more college players are being drafted (for several reasons). The number of high school players drafted now comprises about 30-35% of the total.

     Question: Where do the coaches, managers, and executives who run professional sports come from?  Overwhelmingly, from the ranks of former players. Money Ball notwithstanding, few decision makers in MLB are outsiders. 

     So what might we learn from all of this?

     That the pool from which the future leaders and decision makers in MLB are coming from is not particularly well educated!  These guys have not been much exposed to “higher order” thinking or the scientific process (as opposed to most every NBA and NFL player and coach).

     If you want to be a head coach at most any level of college sports, a degree is required, often an advanced degree. It is not unusual for college head coaches to hold Master's and Doctoral degrees. You occasionally hear the TV talking heads discuss a college coach's educational background. When was the last time you heard a discussion on some MLB manager's academic achievements?

     So, like all of us, baseball coaches and managers teach what they know. And, like most of us, they are slow to change their ways. Perhaps this will change as the trend of drafting more college baseball players continues.

     Don’t misinterpret what I am saying. This is not about educational elitism. I’ve encountered enough “degreed” dimwits over the years to know that formal education has its limitations.

     But you can’t teach what you don’t know. So, if

• Your educational background is limited, and

• You’re not really into SELF-education, and

• You don’t have the background to properly interpret scientific
  data, 

  and

• You have poor communication skills

     Then you’re more likely to be suspicious of new ideas and techniques, and reluctant to adopt them, regardless of all the positive evidence that may exist for an idea. Such a person may also have limited teaching skills as well, further hampering the process of transferring new concepts.

     So what we have with MLB is an entrenched, self-perpetuating mindset that is not particularly open to new ideas, unless there is obvious financial benefit.

     Keep all of this in mind the next time you hear the question, “If (insert new idea here) is such a good idea, why isn’t professional baseball doing it?” Most certainly, DO NOT judge the value of an idea based on MLB’s view of it. Do your own independent research instead. You’ll be better served. 

IMPORTANT DEFINITION: 

Arm STRENGTH: A euphemism that denotes how hard a player throws, or how good his/her arm is. For baseball and softball skill evaluation purposes, it has nothing to do with muscle strength.