Strength training for baseball players: what the trials in baseball players measured, the lifts, and a week around games

Strength training for baseball players, in the research, is lifting, jumping and throwing work added to a player's regular training, and the measure is usually how fast the ball goes. This page is about adults. Where a review mixes in high-school players, it says so, and it doesn't carry their results over.

The sport's physical side shows up in pitching. A 2023 systematic review of 17 studies and 909 adult pitchers (65% professional, 33% college and 3% recreational) found pitch velocity was influenced by several lower-body factors, among them the strength of the muscles around the hip and pelvis and the length of the stride. Hip strength was described as a well-established predictor of higher pitch velocity in adult pitchers, and the authors called for more studies in adult pitchers on stride length.¹ That's an association in pitchers, not a trial of training, so the trials below carry more weight.

What the trials in baseball players found

• Across 16 studies. A 2023 systematic review of resistance-based training in baseball players of all ages and both sexes (about 12.5 to 24 years in the included studies, several in high-school-age players) found throwing velocity was measured in 15 of the 16. Of 12 studies that compared an experimental group with a comparison group, 8 found a significantly better result for the training group. The programs ran 4 to 10 weeks, and 6 weeks was the most common.² The authors say resistance-based training interventions appear to be effective in enhancing throwing velocity.²
• Eight weeks of upper-body jumps. 24 Division I collegiate players, averaging 19.7 years, were randomly assigned to six upper-body plyometric exercises twice a week for eight weeks or to regular off-season strength and conditioning. Throwing velocity in the plyometric group rose from 83.15 to 85.15 mph; none of the isokinetic strength measures differed significantly between groups.³
• Six weeks of grip work. 23 male players on a Division II varsity team, averaging 19.7 years, were randomly split into a group that added extra forearm and grip exercises to their usual practice for six weeks and a group that didn't. Bat velocity rose over the study, but the groups' post-test bat velocities didn't differ significantly, and the authors concluded grip strength and bat velocity are not significantly related.⁴

Read together: the trials that measured a throw found the training groups ahead, and the one that trained grip to raise bat speed did not. So the week below spends its time on the legs and hips, the pressing and pulling that match the throwing arm, and fast upper-body work, and treats grip as an extra.

The lifts for baseball players

The trials above tested a program type more than a list of lifts, so the picks are practical, built around what those trials trained.

New to the barbell? How to get stronger covers building up to heavy sets, and how much weight to lift covers picking the load.

A week around games

A practical layout, not a protocol from a trial. Two sessions a week match the plyometric trial's frequency,³ and the programs in the review ran 4 to 10 weeks,² so give any block at least that long before judging it.

The two trials that trained players ran in the off-season,^3,4 so the in-season column is my practical guess: keep the lifts short, early in the week and away from game days. Cardio and lifting covers the order and the gap between sessions.

Baseball workouts at home

Without a gym you keep the fast upper-body work, the half the collegiate trial tested.³ A practical home version: push-ups with a clap or from a raised surface, band rows and band pull-aparts, split squats and lateral lunges with a loaded backpack, hip bridges, and slams or throws with a medicine ball if you have one. The resistance band workout and the bodyweight workout lay out full sessions.

Common questions

Does lifting make you throw harder?

On average in the studies cited here, yes: 8 of 12 studies with a comparison group found the training group did significantly better on throwing velocity,² and upper-body plyometric training raised it in collegiate players.³ Those results come from groups, and from players of mixed ages in the review.

How many days a week should baseball players lift?

Two is what the plyometric trial used.³ Two or three is my practical range; the review's programs didn't settle it.²

Does grip strength raise bat speed?

In one trial of 23 male collegiate players, six weeks of extra forearm and grip exercises didn't leave the lifters with a significantly higher bat velocity than the other group, and the authors concluded the two aren't significantly related.⁴ It's one small trial, so treat grip as an extra to the legs, hips and upper body.

Is this the same for high-school players?

This page is for adults. The 2023 review included players of all ages, so its results aren't a statement about any one age group, and the two trials above averaged 19.7 years.^2,3,4

Throwing and swinging sports each have their own page: tennis, golf and football, and for jumping, volleyball.

If you'd rather have the week planned

Lifting around practice and games is a scheduling problem as much as a training one. Coaching here is general strength and fitness coaching, not baseball coaching: your workouts are built around the days you actually have, and a weekly call looks at the week you just had and rebuilds the next one around what's coming. How coaching works explains it, and apply is the first step. Otherwise: put the Monday lower session in next week, and keep it there for six.