It should go without saying that the shoulders are one of the most

important parts of a baseball player's body. Without shoulders

there would be no way to throw the ball or swing the bat. However

too many ballplayers avoid training their shoulders because they

are afraid of hurting themselves. In reality, you are more likely

to hurt your shoulders if you don't train them because they will

not be properly prepared for the demands of the sport.

You will be doing a lot of shoulder strengthening exercises which

you may or may not be used to, but you will also be doing a lot of

new exercises that will build the muscular endurance and stability

in the joint. Many of these exercises may seem small and

insignificant, but do not (repeat DO NOT!) neglect them!

Just about every player in the game, regardless of position, has

experienced some sort of shoulder pain and it is usually due to a

weak or unbalanced rotator cuff. These "small exercises" are

designed to help you avoid those minor aches and pains so that you

can stay on track with your training all year long.

Raises

Your shoulder can rise to the front, side, and rear. You will

notice that these exercises are great for increasing your muscular

endurance and shoulder stability.

Rotations

The other set of movements that your shoulders are responsible for

are rotations.

The rotator cuff is a group of four muscles (supraspinatus,

infraspinatus, teres minor, and subscapularis) that are responsible

for rotating the shoulder both internally and externally in its

socket. Your rotation exercises will be performed with your elbow

held out to the side of your body at shoulder height, with your

elbow held in near your ribs, and just about everywhere in between.

The throwing motion consists of an external rotation of the

shoulder followed by a rapid internal rotation. As I mentioned

earlier in the example of the Corvette, in order to have a high

powered engine you must first have a great breaking system. If you

are going to ask your arm to rotate in one direction rapidly you

must have the ability to slow and stop that rotation. For this

reason you will spend more time working on your external rotation

exercises than your internal rotation exercises.