Patterns of Specialization in Professional Baseball Players

Ginsburg, Richard D.; Smith, Steven R.; Danforth, Nicole; Ceranoglu, Tolga Atilla; Durant, Stephen A.; Kamin, Hayley S.; Babcock, Rebecca Day; Robin, Lucy; Masek, Bruce J.

doi:10.1123/jcsp.2014-0032

Cited by 20 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Brooks et al reported that most adolescent athletes view specialization as beneficial for improving sport performance (91%) or making a college team (67%), similar to the large majority of parents in our study who indicated similar beliefs [8]. Similarly, in a survey of 201 youth sport parents, Padaki et al reported that 57% of parents hoped for their child to play either collegiately or professionally, and half of all parents reported that they had encouraged their child to specialize in a single sport [18]. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the perceived benefits of specialization among parents of adolescent baseball athletes.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Post

Rosenthal

Rauh

2019

Sports

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Adolescent athletes are increasingly encouraged to specialize in a single sport year-round in an effort to receive a college scholarship. For collegiate baseball, only 11.7 scholarships are available for a 35-player team. The beliefs of the parents of baseball athletes towards sport specialization are unknown, along with whether they have an accurate understanding of college baseball scholarship availability. The parents of high school baseball athletes were recruited to complete an anonymous questionnaire that consisted of (1) parent and child demographics, (2) child baseball participation information, and (3) parent attitudes and beliefs regarding sport specialization and college baseball scholarships. One hundred and fifty-five parents participated in the questionnaire (female: 52.9%, age: 49.4 ± 5.5 years old). The parents spent a median of 3000 USD [Interquartile Range (IQR): 1500–6000] on their child’s baseball participation. Most parents believed that specialization increased their child’s chances of getting better at baseball (N = 121, 79.6%). The parents underestimated the number of college baseball scholarships available per team (median [IQR]: 5 [0–5]), but 55 parents (35.9%) believed it was likely that their child would receive a college baseball scholarship. Despite having a realistic understanding of the limited college scholarships available, the parents were optimistic that their child would receive a baseball scholarship.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 84%

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Post

Rosenthal

Rauh

2019

Sports

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“…The author did not evaluate injury incidence in the study group or report the age at which the players specialized. 13 Ginsburg et al 11 reported that 25% of professional players specialized before age 12 and the mean age of specialization was 15; again, injury rates were not discussed. In contrast, our study demonstrated that 49% of players specialized in baseball prior to high school.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Early Sport Specialization: Effectiveness and Risk of Injury in Professional Baseball Players

Wilhelm¹,

Choi

Deitch

2017

Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine

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Background:The rate of early sport specialization in professional baseball players is unknown.Purpose:To report the incidence and age of sport specialization in current professional baseball players and the impact of early specialization on the frequency of serious injuries sustained during the players’ careers. We also queried participants about when serious injuries occurred, the players’ current position on the field, and their opinions regarding the need for young athletes to specialize early to play at the professional level.Study Design:Descriptive epidemiological study.Methods:A total of 102 current professional baseball players anonymously completed a 7-question written survey. Early sport specialization was defined as “single-sport participation prior to high school.” Injury was defined as “a serious injury or surgery that required the player to refrain from sports (baseball) for an entire year.” Chi-square tests were used to investigate the risk of injury in those who specialized early in baseball versus those who did not. Independent-sample t tests were used to compare injury rates based on current player position.Results:Fifty (48%) baseball players specialized early. The mean age at initiation of sport specialization was 8.91 years (SD, 3.7 years). Those who specialized early reported more serious injuries (mean, 0.54; SD, 0.838) during their professional baseball career than those who did not (mean, 0.23; SD, 0.425) (P = .044). Finally, 63.4% of the queried players believed that early sport specialization was not required to play professional baseball.Conclusion:Our study demonstrated a statistically significant higher rate of serious injury during a baseball player’s professional career in those players who specialized early. Most current professional baseball players surveyed believed that sport specialization was not required prior to high school to master the skills needed to play at the professional level. Our findings demonstrate an increased incidence of serious injuries in professional baseball players who specialized in baseball prior to high school. Youth baseball athletes should be encouraged not to participate in a single sport given the potential for an increased incidence of serious injuries later in their careers. No data are available to suggest that early specialization is needed to reach the professional level.

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“…Early specialization among children has become commonplace, with concepts such as Deliberate Practice and the "10,000 h rule" entering the public consciousness and strongly influencing how skills in youth are developed by coaches, teachers, and parents [3,[10][11][12]. However, this early specialization movement is not without its detractors [24,31,39], as several studies suggest that elite performance can occur with much shorter time investment than 10,000 h [2,16,33,34] and late specialization may actually produce better performances in more physiological-based sports (versus skill-based sports) than early specialization [14,30].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Career Performance Progressions of Junior and Senior Elite Track and Field Athletes

Foss

Sinex

Chapman

2019

J. of SCI. IN SPORT AND EXERCISE

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Purpose To compare and assess differences in the career performance progressions of elite junior and Olympic track and field athletes. Methods Annual best performances from top 8 men and women (e.g. finalists) in track and field events at the 2000 World Junior Championships (junior cohort) and the 2000 Olympic Games (Olympic cohort) were examined. Annual bests of these finalists were tracked each year from select groups: sprints (100 m, 200 m), distance (1500 m, 5000 m), jumps (long jump, high jump), throws (discus, shot put). Age of best lifetime performance, age of final posted performance, and improvement from junior-age best to lifetime best performance were compared between groups. Results Olympic finalists achieved lifetime best performances at later ages than junior finalists [26.0 ± 4.0 years vs. 21.1 ± 3.5 years; age difference 90% CI (3.7-5.2 years), P < 0.001], and this significant age difference between cohorts was found within all four groups. Olympic finalists improved from under-20 best to lifetime best more so than junior finalists [6.1 ± 4.8% vs. 2.5 ± 2.3%; Age difference 90% CI (2.5-4.8%), P < 0.001]. Of 130 junior finalists, 54 did not improve after age 19, while 19 of 128 Olympic finalists posted no improvement after age 19. Conclusion The data suggest that these two populations have different career performance progressions and challenge the notion that achieving elite success as a junior athlete is a prerequisite for the same success at the senior level.

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Patterns of Specialization in Professional Baseball Players

Cited by 20 publications

References 18 publications

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Attitudes and Beliefs towards Sport Specialization, College Scholarships, and Financial Investment among High School Baseball Parents

Early Sport Specialization: Effectiveness and Risk of Injury in Professional Baseball Players

Career Performance Progressions of Junior and Senior Elite Track and Field Athletes

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