LAKE STEVENS – Not so many years back, when summer gave way to fall, kids tossed their well-worn baseball gloves to the back of the closet and pulled out the pigskin.
Dan Bates / The Herald
Winter ball? To even the most die-hard baseball enthusiasts that was something played in Venezuela or Mexico while Americans busied themselves first with football, then basketball or hockey.
My, how things have changed.
Even in the weather-challenged Pacific Northwest, youth baseball has joined the ranks of soccer and basketball as a year-round sport.
In Snohomish County, one need not look far to find a winter baseball camp or clinic capable of feeding the growing appetite of offseason instruction among players ages 9-18.
“There is a demand for it,” Snohomish High School baseball coach Kim Hammons said. “Kids are looking to improve their skills and get better.”
Getting better – even during the offseason – has become increasingly important to players looking to earn a spot on their high school roster or on an elite summer traveling team.
“It’s a competitive advantage,” said Mike Harkins of Arlington, whose sons Marcus, 14, and Lucas, 12, participated at a two-hour hitting clinic recently at Lace’s Baseball Academy in Lake Stevens.
The instructor, Bill Rife, put a group of boys through a series of drills using a variety of implements. After hitting off tees, the players rotated to stations designed to improve vision, lead-arm strength and bat speed.
Some took turns swatting at tiny tossed balls with a skinny stick. Another swung the stubby hammer bat with a single hand.
“Come on, I want to hear a whoosh,” Rife said as one lad swung a fungo with all his might.
Harkins said his sons have benefited markedly from Rife’s instruction: “Bill kind of woke them up about some things. Dad’s can only do so much.”
Tyler Eddy, a 9-year-old from Everett, was one of the youngest players at the clinic.
“He’s getting a ton out of it,” his father, Bill Eddy, said of the clinic, which cost $20 per session. “He’s building some skills and getting some great one-on-one training.”
Rife, whose son Jake, 17, is a senior at Lakewood High School and will attend the University of Washington next fall on a baseball scholarship, says winter instruction is a relatively new phenomenon in this area.
“When Jake was 12, this wasn’t available in Snohomish County,” Rife said. “Now, I’ve got some 10-year-old kids in Lake Stevens. What am I gonna show ‘em when they’re 14?”
Lace’s Academy is just one of several local organizations offering offseason training.
At Shocker’s Baseball Academy in Mukilteo, pitching instructor Don Moe is gearing up for winter classes, which begin Jan. 5. A series of eight 21/2-hour classes costs $400.
Moe said he places a premium on proper conditioning and training to prevent injuries, which are increasingly prevalent in young pitchers.
“They’re still growing, they’re just pups,” Moe said. “You get a kid throwing improperly and he’s going to break and need Tommy John (ligament) surgery.”
Hammons said winter workouts can benefit high school players, especially since Washington Interscholastic Activities Association rules prevent prep coaches from working with prospective players from the start of school until the first official day of practice in March.
“At the high school level, a lot of kids are not sound with hitting fundamentals and pitching mechanics,” Hammons said.
Hammons sent his own sons to clinics taught by Joe Ross, the hitting instructor at the University of Washington. “It’s beneficial to go to a really good hitting coach to get that sweet swing you’re looking for,” he said.
Despite the plethora of programs available, former Meadowdale High School coach Ron Martin is not completely sold on year-round baseball training for young players.
“I’d be cautious,” said Martin who coached at Meadowdale from 1978 until his retirement last spring. “I think a lot of times a bill of goods is sold to the parents that a kid can get a college scholarship. You have to have the right talent and the right mental make-up.”
Moreover, Martin is concerned about the trend toward increased specialization in youth sports, including baseball, where high-cost travel programs for players as young as 14 may play 90 games over the summer.
“When I started coaching at Meadowdale, most of the players played two sports and sometimes three,” Martin said. “Last year, only a couple of my kids were involved in more than one sport.”
For his part, Rife agrees young people should play more than one sport and, hopefully, try to get in a little extra baseball work as time allows.
“Only about 1 percent of all high school kids will play college baseball after high school,” Rife said. “I encourage kids to play different sports. Right now I have kids who are in the heat of battle in basketball or wrestling, but they find the time to get in one night a week in the cage.”
Although few players will make the grade in baseball beyond high school, Rife insists all his pupils make the grades in life.
“I make all my hitters bring their report cards to me,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t care how good you are, if you don’t have the grades it doesn’t matter.”
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