Kimeblog // By KIME
Building and Maintaining Resilient Bodies for the Long Baseball Season
February 18, 2025
As the baseball season begins, baseball players, as rotational athletes, are exposed to a high volume of high forces with countless reps in the cage, bullpen and on the field over the coming months. There has been an uptick in injuries in all levels of players from youth to the pros, with some terming this an epidemic. Without pointing fingers lets lean on principles of movement and how they can be leveraged and understood to keep our players healthy.
As rotational athletes, baseball players must rely on two principles to generate power and find success on the field:
- Kinetic linking
- Cracking a whip
Kinetic linking refers to how energy is transferred from the ground up through the body, creating rotational force for throwing and hitting. When done correctly, this seamless energy transfer allows athletes to maximize power while reducing stress on isolated tissues and joints. The result is efficient, explosive movement that defines elite performance. In throwing, 86% of the velocity of a pitch is generated by the legs, trunk and non throwing arm in this pattern.
The force starts with the legs pushing into the ground. The hips are the first to rotate, followed by the trunk. One of the major keys to taking advantage of the kinetic chain is the separation between the hips and shoulders.
In the human body we have certain segments that are meant to rotate. The hips and the thoracic spine (spinal segments where all our ribs attach) are major rotation components that contribute to the power created by the kinetic chain.
In following the movement continuum, which is a fundamental KIME principle, let’s build an example recipe of how to create this hip and shoulder separation to maximize your kinetic chain. In this case the ingredients in the recipe are movements, or exercises, of which there are nearly infinite options. The magic is not in the individual ingredients, it is in knowing which ingredients to combine to make a winning recipe.
Start with this Thoracic Spine Rotation Test to check your thoracic spine and rib cage movement: you should be able to turn and see the ceiling in both directions:
If you cannot see the ceiling both ways, or it feels challenging to do so, try this 90/90 Rotate & Reach drill to open up your thoracic spine and rib cage:
Now retest. If you can see the ceiling – move to this Half Kneel Wall Book Opening drill that will allow your body to gain control over that new motion you have created:
Now check your hips with this Seated Rotation Hip ER, IR test. Your foot should be able to move past mid shin on the leg moving in, and past the chair leg going out:
If you cannot achieve this, try the Supine Hip Internal Rotation Stretch and the Elevated Pigeon stretch to open up your hips ability to rotate:
Now retest. If you can pass Seated Rotation Hip ER, IR test, move on to this 90/90 Hip Flow + Glute Bridge drill that will help your body gain control over the new motion you created:
We can put it all together with the hips and thoracic spine with Split Stance Lift, a resisted drill for strength into rotation:
At the end of this kinetic chain is the arm or the bat, which acts like the tip of a whip. Just as a whips handle moves first and transfers energy down its length until the tip snaps forward with maximum velocity, a well-sequenced kinetic chain allows the arm to accelerate smoothly and efficiently. However, this whipping motion also means the arm is exposed to extreme forces, requiring a strong, stable foundation to withstand the stress of a full season.
While we often have to create more motion in our thoracic spine and hips for optimal kinetic chain performance, our shoulders tend to lack the required strength and stability to withstand the whip that’s required for throwing.
Here are three self tests to gauge your strength and stability:
Try to hold these two 1 arm plank tests for 60s:
For this Overhead Carry test, use a kettlebell or dumbbell that is 10 pounds lighter than the top velocity that you throw, and walk around for 30s keeping your arm vertical and elbow straight:
If you cannot complete these tests as required, the tests become the drills and practice them until you have perfected them.
Once you can complete these tests, use this Thorac Bridge drill to include the shoulder and hip separation in your kinetic chain and strength and stability requirements in the shoulder to crack the whip.
Following the continuum we have built mobility in the hips and thoracic spine and strength and stability in the shoulder complex. We have integrated those concepts into combined drills. Now we can move into speed and power.
Use this Stationary Med-ball Long Rotations drill to learn how to move quickly into rotation with the new motion, control, and strength you have. We hold on to the ball in this drill to build both the gas and brake pedals in the body. We can only accelerate what we can confidently slow down.
Finally, put it all together with this Med-ball Side Facing Rotation drill, utilizing the full kinetic chain to create a powerful move that simulates the requirements of both hitting and throwing:
The offseason is the time to build this foundation, strengthening the legs and core, optimizing mobility, and reinforcing the shoulder and arm complex to ensure we can sequence the kinetic chain and crack the whip successfully.
Now that the season is underway, a well-maintained kinetic chain and resilient shoulder not only keep players performing at their peak but also help them stay healthy deep into the season when it matters most. It is never too late to begin optimizing yourself. Try this simple recipe and let us know how it goes!
We have helped structure offseason and in-season programs for thousands of baseball players from youth to professional, in our sports physical therapy facilities and in our communities through our Non Profit, Kime Human Performance Institute, over the last decade. We look forward to innovating new ways to impact the lives of these athletes in the future.
In Strength and Health,
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