Baseball is a game of outputs. Pitchers are measured by velocity. Hitters by exit speed. Fielders by the quickness of their first step. Across every role, speed, power, and resilience are the currencies of success.

That truth defines the philosophy of Hunter Lakey, Head of Baseball Strength and Conditioning at Georgia Southern University. Drawing on experience at Mississippi State, Elon, Texas A&M, and TCU under renowned coach Zach Dechant, Lakey has built a pragmatic framework that blends sport science with day-to-day coaching realities.

In this blog, we outline Lakey’s approach to building a year-round baseball performance system: the high–low model, vertical integration, season-long programming, athlete monitoring, and practical coaching insights. For those seeking deeper detail, the full transcript of Lakey’s conversation follows below.

Why Baseball Needs Its Own Model

Unlike football or basketball, baseball requires athletes to perform explosive, maximal outputs daily while navigating unpredictable game demands and long seasons.

• Starters throw once a week and need structured recovery.
• Relievers may pitch on three consecutive days with little predictability.
• Position players endure 60+ games and scrimmages in college, plus practices and travel.

Traditional block periodization focusing weeks solely on strength, endurance, or speed doesn’t fit. Qualities like speed decay in five days or less if not trained. Lose a week of sprint exposure, and you’ve lost performance capacity.

Lakey emphasizes: freshness equals performance. Baseball strength and conditioning programming must develop strength, power, and speed while protecting recovery.

The High–Low Model

At the core of Lakey’s philosophy is the high–low model (adapted from Charlie Francis).

• High days: Maximal central nervous system (CNS) stress. Max velocity sprints, heavy lower lifts, jumps, med ball throws.
• Low days: Aerobic capacity, mobility, upper body lifts, regeneration.

This separation provides 48 hours of recovery between max efforts, preserving outputs and reducing overtraining.

“If you blur the line with medium days, you don’t get recovery or adaptation. High has to be high. Low has to be low.” Hunter Lakey

Sample Week (Offseason):

• Monday: Sprint + Heavy Lower Lift (High)
• Tuesday: Mobility + Aerobic Flush + Upper Lift (Low)
• Wednesday: Sprint + Power Jumps + Lower Lift (High)
• Thursday: Recovery Circuits (Low)
• Friday: Speed + Competition Games (High)

This cycle lets athletes train outputs at intensity while still adapting long-term.

Vertical Integration: Training All Qualities Year-Round

Lakey uses vertical integration, meaning all biomotor qualities are trained continuously, just in different doses depending on the season.

• Speed and power — trained every week.
• Strength and hypertrophy — emphasized in offseason, tapered in-season but never dropped.
• Aerobic base — maintained through tempo runs, mobility, and low days.

This ensures baseball athletes don’t “detrain” critical qualities while moving through the calendar.

The Yearly Calendar

Lakey divides the baseball year into four major phases:

1. Fall (August–November)

• Individual period (Aug–Sept): Freshmen and transfers re-learn movement competency: sprint mechanics, squats, hinges, dribbles.
• Fall Ball (Oct–Nov): With scrimmages, weight room volume is reduced, but intensity stays high. Pitchers train around bullpens; position players around scrimmages.

2. Post-Fall (Nov–Dec)

• Pure development block.
• Athletes bucketed into foundation, strength, and advanced groups.
• Focus: aggressively pushing outputs before holiday break.

3. Preseason (Jan–Feb)

• Return to scrimmage-heavy periods.
• Weight room focus on refining patterns and prepping for in-season readiness.

4. In-Season (Feb–May)

• Training doesn’t stop. Lakey rejects “maintenance.”
• Velocity-based training (VBT) guides daily loads.
• Pitchers: Lift the day after they throw.
• Position players: Midweek lifts around games.
• Relievers: Consistent weekly structure, flexible around usage.
• Game-day lifts: Short, high-output CNS primers.

Programming by Role

Role-specific demands shape training:

• Starters follow structured weekly recoveries.
• Relievers maintain stable strength exposure despite unpredictable appearances.
• Position players balance games with midweek lifts to preserve speed and power.

Monitoring and Adjustments

Lakey uses a blend of objective tools and subjective feedback:

• Velocity-Based Training (VBT): Adjusts loads based on bar speed.
• Sprint timing gates: Track acceleration and velocity.
• CMJ / jump mats: Quick neuromuscular readiness checks.
• Athlete questionnaires and observation: Stress from academics or travel weighs equally with training stress.

Practical Coaching Insights

Lakey emphasizes that science only works if athletes buy in:

1. Outputs require freshness. Speed and power come first.
2. Competition fuels intent. Jump mats, timing gates, and VBT add urgency and fun.
3. Holistic stress matters. Academics, travel, and lifestyle count.
4. Cook when the pan is hot. Push when athletes feel good, adapt when they don’t.

A Blueprint for Baseball Performance

Hunter Lakey’s approach offers a modern blueprint for baseball strength and conditioning programs and departments:

• Organize training around outputs.
• Use the high–low model to protect recovery.
• Layer all qualities year-round with vertical integration.
• Tailor programming by role.
• Monitor, adjust, and emphasize athlete intent.

For collegiate, pro, and even high school baseball programs, this framework demonstrates how to balance science, art, and coaching to build resilient, explosive athletes ready for the long season ahead.

Full Transcript (Edited for Clarity)

FYTT: Hunter, thank you for joining us. Can you share your overall philosophy on training baseball athletes?

Hunter Lakey: For me, everything in baseball comes down to outputs. Velocity, sprint speed, exit velocity; those are the markers of success. To consistently improve those, athletes have to be fresh when it matters. That’s where the high–low model comes in: keeping high days truly high and low days truly low. We chase outputs on high days like max sprinting, heavy lower body lifts, and jumps, and we recover on low days with aerobic work, mobility, upper body lifts.

FYTT: You mentioned the high–low model. How does that look across a week?

Hunter Lakey: High days are money days; max velocity sprints, power jumps, heavy compound lifts. Low days are flush days: mobility, aerobic capacity, accessory work. By separating them, athletes get 48 hours to recover before the next max-output session. If you blur the line with medium days, you don’t get recovery or adaptation.

FYTT: How does vertical integration fit into your programming?

Hunter Lakey: Vertical integration means all biomotor qualities are trained year-round, just in different doses. Traditional block periodization might give you a month of strength or a month of speed, but speed has a short shelf life; about five days. If you don’t train it weekly, you lose it. So in my program, speed, power, strength, hypertrophy, aerobic qualities, and even skill are always present, just with different emphasis depending on the season.

FYTT: Walk us through your annual plan.

Hunter Lakey:

• Individual period (Aug–Sept): Teach movement competency. Freshmen especially need foundations.
• Fall Ball (Oct–Nov): With scrimmages, we taper volume in the weight room but keep intensity high. Position players train around scrimmage days, pitchers around live throwing.
• Post-Fall (Nov–Dec): No games, pure development block. Athletes are bucketed: foundation, strength, advanced. Outputs are pushed hard before break.
• Preseason (Jan–Feb): Training around scrimmages again, but prepping for in-season demands.
• In-Season (Feb–May): We don’t maintain, we train. VBT helps adjust daily loads. Starters lift the day after they throw, position players midweek, relievers consistently.

FYTT: How do you monitor readiness?

Hunter Lakey: VBT is huge; if bar speed drops, we pull back. Sprint gates and jump mats track readiness. But the biggest thing is conversation. If a guy feels off, we adjust. Stress is holistic; if academics are heavy, that counts.

FYTT: What advice would you give young strength coaches?

Hunter Lakey: Know a little about a lot before specializing. Learn general sport performance first. Then, if you want to go deep in baseball, find a mentor. I moved across the country to work under Zach Dechant unpaid because I knew I needed that education. Relationships and internships matter. And don’t gatekeep: share what you learn.