Cue Allen Iverson’s infamous rant about practice. “Not a game. Not a game. We talking about practice.”
Well, Iverson, another sports legend, baseball’s Alex Rodriguez, thinks that his sport needs more of it, and that repetition needs to start at the youth level.
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Rodriguez posted a video to Threads on Wednesday night, though it was unclear which game or play or players spurred his practice infomercial. His video was entitled, “The Issue With Youth Baseball Today.”
“I think players today have never been better, stronger, faster. The things they can do, it’s incredible,” Rodriguez said. “I think here’s the one thing they have to watch: The fundamentals are not as good. I don’t think they’re being taught the right way. I don’t think they’re being taught enough. And I think the biggest difference is kids play way too many baseball games. And I understand that, you know, you play six, seven games per week. Sometimes you play three, four games on a Saturday and Sunday. When I grew up, we practiced six days a week to play one game. Therefore, there was more of an emphasis on fundamentals and practice and just becoming, honing your craft a lot more.
Rodriguez played in the majors from 1994-2016, and he’s not incorrect in saying the game (and how to reach the top levels) has changed a lot since then.
For one, metrics like exit velocity and pitch speed dominate the space.
Kids specialize in one sport a lot earlier in their lives. That also means children in baseball want to be noticed sooner — via competition: showcases and club/travel/tournament ball, to name a few. Are they not focusing on the basics enough? Rodriguez doesn’t think so.
Statistics like errors and fielding percentage have not gotten worse in the majors, though those are flawed stats to judge the “fundamentals” of fielding. Rodriguez could also be pointing to baserunning and hitting, too, and generally just being a smart player.
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