Should My Son Play Fall Baseball? A Coach’s Guide to Building the Perfect Offseason Plan

Every summer, as soon as the last out of the season is recorded, the questions start rolling in:

Fall Ball or Off Season Training?

“Should my son play fall baseball?”

“Should he focus on training?”

“Would he be better off playing football or basketball?”

“Should he just take a break?”

Parents are looking for one simple answer. They want someone to tell them exactly what every player should do from August until spring.

The truth is, that answer doesn’t exist.

If you're expecting the sales pitch for off-season training, this isn't it. Of course, I want you to come train at Chips Performance, I built it, it works, we know what we're doing.

That being said, every player is at a different stage and needs to look at their development objectively. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing, focus on YOU.

The best offseason for you starts by looking at your strengths, weaknesses and evaluating where you need to get to in order to be ready for next spring. This can vary if you're planning on attending prospective college camps, draft workouts, but for the most part, the next season is the focus.

Each player's approach needs to be based on what that player needs to do to improve his performance on the field and be prepared to compete at a higher level next year.

Every player is different. A 13-year-old who still has plenty of room to grow shouldn’t have the same offseason as a physically mature high school junior trying to earn a Division I scholarship. 

A pitcher coming off a long summer workload shouldn’t follow the same plan as a middle infielder who needs to become stronger. Some players need more skill development. Others need more strength. Others simply need to compete.

What every player does need, however, is a plan. As we all know, not having a plan is more than likely planning to fail. But if you're the player who says, "I've never needed a plan before, it's worked out just fine." That's awesome. Congrats! However, you'd also be admitting that the best version of you, who trained with a purpose, improved on his weaknesses and built on his strengths for 6-8 months wouldn't be better than you just winging it? But let's continue.

One of the biggest mistakes I see every offseason isn’t that players choose the wrong path. It’s that they try to do everything. They try to make up for lost time.

They sign up for every tournament. Every showcase. Every lesson. Every camp.

They try to lift five days a week while also practicing every day and squeezing in extra games whenever possible. I've been there, I've done that. That was me in high school. You get worn down, feel lethargic, your progress stalls and pretty soon you've missed more workouts than you would have, had you just stuck to a plan.

The goal of the offseason isn’t to "stay busy". It’s to get better.

That doesn’t mean players shouldn’t rest. In fact, after a long season, most athletes benefit from stepping away for a couple of weeks. The body needs time to recover, and just as importantly, so does the mind.

But doing nothing for an entire offseason isn’t the answer either.

For most players—especially those who don’t live in warm-weather states where baseball is played year-round—that initial break is usually enough. Before long, they’re ready to move again. The key is making sure they have something productive to move toward.

That’s where consistency becomes far more important than motivation.

Everyone is excited during the first week of a new training program. Which is also when you should be easing into a program, ramping up and creating good habits. During this time, you should be rebuilding the body from the bumps and bruises of the season you just played and preparing it for the work ahead. Too often I'll see players who want to dive under the squat rack and start lifting heavy from the get go, but nothing hurts your progress forward like a pulled muscle you need to wait 4-6 weeks to heal.

Motivation is great, but once that wears off, that's where the work begins. This goes for fall ball too. Once the newness wears off, we can either buckle down on our new habits, or fall back into old ones. The ones that got you to where you were last year, remember? That made you look forward to fall ball because it was supposed to be your fresh start? If that's you, this is your wake up call.

The players who separate themselves are the ones who continue showing up in November, in December, and in January when progress feels slower and nobody is watching.

Real growth doesn't happen because of one great workout.

It happens because of hundreds of ordinary ones. On days you don't "feel like doing it" because even if you only have 40% in the tank that day. The guys who keep showing up are the ones who end up lightyears ahead of their peers. Put that into a sophomore's hands and that compounds over time.

Here's what I tell my players. Let's say you only miss one workout every 2 weeks. You rationalize it, our minds are great at that. You tell yourself it's not the "important workout" or the one you enjoy the most, either way, you skip it.

Over 5 months, that one workout has become 10 workouts. There is no single workout that will make up all 10 workouts you skipped, not without severely compromising your recovery for the next few days. So I tell players to ask themselves, would YOU have a better chance of beating out yourself, if you did those 10 workouts or does the version of you who skipped them have the advantage?

The secret sauce in all of this is not the workouts themselves. It's the maturity that comes with realizing to get where you want to go, to take this game as far as you can, you have to be comfortable with doing hard things - when you don't feel like it.

This has been documented and studied at length. The part of your brain that builds from doing hard things that you specifically do not want to do, does grow through these activities. Your willpower and tolerance for them actually improves over time. And if you have any intention of playing past high school, you're going to need that on your side.

The game itself has changed dramatically over the last decade. College baseball has become more competitive, more athletic, and more physical than ever before. NIL opportunities, scholarship changes, and an increasingly competitive recruiting landscape have raised the standard at every level.

Skill will always matter.

You still have to hit, throw, catch, and compete. But eventually, every player reaches a point where skill alone isn’t enough. You WILL run into your athletic equal at some point. From there, it matters what goes on between your ears, how well you adapt to each new level and if you can stay healthy and on the field.

But I Wanna Throw HARDER

One of the most common questions I hear is, “What do I need to do to throw harder?”

Sometimes players expect the answer to be a new throwing program or a different drill. Often, the answer is much simpler.

Yes, mechanics are very important. The efficiency of your motion and ability to capture energy while timing its release is crucial. But for 85-90% of high school players the answer is simply: Get stronger.

Get stronger, add good weight, and build a body that is able to absorb and slow down the velocity that you want to be able to create.

Look, if I sold you a Lamborghini that could do 200+ mph, then told you, "Just a heads up, the brakes can only stop 80 mph." You'd accuse me of putting you in danger.

The same goes for your body. This isn't just for throwing or hitting, here's my best example everyone can understand:

Remember being on the playground and you get ready to jump down but realize you're a little too high to land it? That's your mind and body understanding your own limits. If you could land it, you'd just jump, but something told you, "this might not be the best idea."

If you’re 120 pounds, there’s only so much force your body can absorb. If you’re 145 pounds, there’s only so much exit velocity you’re capable of creating because there's only so much you can slow down. Eventually, players get much closer to maximizing their current body than they realize.

It is at that point, building a stronger athlete becomes just as important as building a better swing or a better throwing motion.

Unfortunately, strength doesn’t develop overnight. Here's the cliff notes version:

One of the biggest misconceptions among young athletes is believing that a four- or six-week lifting program completely transforms the body. Early improvements often come from learning the movements more efficiently rather than the body becoming significantly stronger.

Real physical development takes months and years. Hence the term, "old man strength".

Muscles grow, but so do bones, ligaments, tendons, and connective tissue. Those systems all have to adapt together. That’s why consistency matters so much, and why even lifting once or twice a week in-season has enormous long-term benefits. You aren’t trying to exhaust yourself during the season. You’re simply giving your body enough stimulus to continue adapting instead of starting over every year.

Your muscles will build faster than your bone density and ligament strength, that's why players plateau at a certain point and the law of diminishing return sets in. Which makes a 3-4 month off-season a perfect amount of time. Then during the year, the bones and ligaments get a chance to catch up, and next year you hit new PR's, because your frame and foundation was more prepared to handle it.

Unfortunately, baseball isn't played in a weight room.

As important as training has become, baseball is still a competitive sport. Players in warm weather states play significantly more than players in the midwest, or up north. A player in the midwest may play 60-75 games from spring to summer, an extra 25 with fall ball, while a player in the south could play 125-150+ games per year.

For some, that's overkill. For others, it gives them a chance to work on adjustments, overcome the pressures and emotional barriers that come with sports, simply by getting so many repetitions they basically become immune to it. It's not unlike the minor leagues, where players will get thousands of at-bats before getting called up to The Show. Many players will feel more than ready, but developmentally, it is usually better to have a player more than ready than risk them needing more time.

So why would training-only be a bad thing?

One challenge I see with players who spend months exclusively training is that they lose touch with competition. Training is where you build new skills. Competition is where you learn whether those skills actually hold up.

That’s why every offseason should include opportunities to compete, we'll do live at-bats, mini-scrimmages, bullpens against hitters, hitting leagues, or competitive practice environments. The competition teaches lessons that no batting cage or weight room ever can.

The other reality of most training environments is that many athletes left on their own tend to skip the very things that matter most.

• Mobility work

• Arm care

• Dynamic warm-ups

• Speed development

• Plyometrics

• Recovery

None of those are particularly exciting. None of them produce an immediate reward. In our facility, those are called the ante. Just like in poker, it costs a little effort before you get to play. And just like in poker, there is a very good reason the warm-up is non-negotiable. The prehab, armcare, mobility, and tedious, unsexy work creates the habits that often determine who stays healthy throughout the season.

One phrase we’ve repeated for years at our facility is simple:

The greatest ability in baseball is availability.

If you’re injured, no one gets to see how hard you throw or hit the ball. Your tools mean nothing on the bench.

As players mature physically, that philosophy becomes even more important. The goal is no longer chasing heavier and heavier lifts simply to post a bigger number.

If I put one of the best players in the state under a barbell and he gets hurt trying to add five pounds to his personal record, I’ve failed him as a coach.

Our job isn’t to create powerlifters. It’s to create baseball players.

Sometimes that means moving moderate weight explosively instead of lifting maximal weight. Sometimes it means incorporating bands, medicine balls, jumps, or sprint work instead of another heavy set. Athleticism, movement quality, and durability will almost always translate to baseball more effectively than a slightly bigger squat number.

Pitchers deserve special consideration as well.

Research continues to support giving pitchers a period each year where throwing intensity is reduced. That doesn’t necessarily mean putting the baseball away completely. Instead, it’s an opportunity to reduce intent, allow the arm to recover, and maintain movement quality through light throwing, football tosses, or easy catch before beginning another structured throwing progression.

The objective isn’t inactivity. It’s recovery with purpose.

Perhaps that’s the biggest takeaway of all.

The offseason isn’t about choosing between fall baseball and training.

It isn’t about deciding whether another sport is right or wrong.

It isn’t about finding one magical program that works for everyone.

It’s about honestly evaluating where each player is today, identifying what they need most, and committing to a thoughtful plan that they can follow consistently for months—not weeks.

Beginning around eighth grade and continuing through high school, every offseason becomes an opportunity to build something that lasts.

• A stronger body.

• Better movement.

• Healthier habits.

• Greater confidence.

• More resilience.

The players who make the biggest jumps every spring usually aren’t the ones who found a secret. They’re the ones who followed a plan when they didn't feel like it. They chose to make the right choice when others would have chosen the easier path. The willingness to do hard things is the number one separator I see every off-season between players who improve and players who change their stars.

If it was easy, everyone would do it. Every off-season and during every spring season, our best players are always the guys who come in way more than anyone realizes. They come in after games in the spring to get their recovery work in, when everyone else just goes home. They get their lifts in, when everyone else is too tired.

Because the best offseason isn’t the busiest one. It’s the one that prepares you for the best season you've ever had on the field. And that is usually just the beginning.