Oklahoma State University Athletics
No Offseason
December 04, 2014 | Cowboy Baseball
The foundation for a successful baseball season is laid in the fall and winter months, and to that end, the Oklahoma State Cowboys are hard at work.
While fall practice has concluded, the Cowboys still stay sharp with small-group and individual drills, but the main focus of the club these days -- along with studying for finals -- is speed, strength and conditioning workouts.
For long-time OSU baseball strength-and-conditioning coach Tracy Baldwin, his goals are to get the Cowboys bigger and stronger while also increasing speed, agility and conditioning. An emphasis is put on the lower body, core muscles and flexibility - anything to make them more explosive.
"The focus for this time of year is preparing the body and getting in shape for the long grind of the season, trying to get everybody a little bit bigger, a little bit stronger, a little bit faster, so that they can be healthy throughout the entire season," Baldwin said. "One thing we talked to them about this week is making sure they're ready for the holiday break, making sure they have a proper place to train and emphasizing taking care of their business over the break."
Baldwin said this current group of Cowboys should not have any problems in that regard.
"We've got a good group of guys who really seem to enjoy training, which makes my job easier -- it's easy to push them because they want to be pushed," Baldwin said. "We have a lot of newcomers and freshmen who have really taken well to the weight room, especially the freshmen. We have some bigger, physical young kids in this class that will only continue to grow and mature. They've really embraced the weight room, the conditioning and the running because they have the desire to get themselves better on a physical level so they can become better baseball players."
OSU head coach Josh Holliday agreed with Baldwin's assessment and said that mentality correlates to success during a season that stretches from February-June and spans upwards of 60 games.
"This is a hard-working group, and you certainly see the benefit of the hard work they're doing now when springtime rolls around, when your team displays the stamina and courage it takes to get through a long, challenging season," Holliday said. "Most of that is built through the workouts that they take very seriously, and that they'll continue to do on their own throughout December and early January before we start back up.
"It's a critical part of your program and a part of our program that's been a real strength the last couple of years in that we've proven to be a team that's gotten better as the year has gone on. It's allowed us to play deep into the season."
And that's why these days you'll find Baldwin and his staff overseeing a group of nearly 40 Cowboys hard at work in the weight room beginning at 6 a.m.
"You're constantly looking to train your body in a way to help prevent injury and stay on the field so areas like flexibility and proper training techniques and methodologies are really important," Holliday said. "We're thankful to have really good people working with our kids who really study their craft and put their heart-and-soul into taking care of these guys."
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