by Richard Todd, WebBall Head Coach, a personal opinion

This is not your usual Insider article. This is shooting from the hip or shouting from the soap box. Either way it's something that needs to be said.

I was on Twitter earlier today and someone asked the question that we all should be asking...

"I'm thinking we need to just see the entire list of 'roid users and get it over with already." This from Darcy Elliot who is a dad and baseball coach and really big on vitamin D (more on that later).

As I said in reply, we do need to do something because the MLB is ruining a perfectly good game.

It's not just that A-Rod did what so many were doing in 2003 or earlier, it's the reason he was doing it, the reason it became endemic, and the consequences for us at the amateur levels.

Let me give you an example...

Last night at an indoor training session, I got a group of 15-17 year olds to try some of the core training drills that Barry Lovelace has in his new video package (Core Power Training).

Now the beauty of Barry's approach is that it looks simple until you try it. Creating instability to strength the core is a great concept, but very challenging. And that's good. Because if an athlete sees something demo'd and he feels it's attainable, he will work very hard - if he's as competitive as he should be - because "if that guy can do it, then I can do it."

Or, at least, that was the reaction I expected. That these guys would challenge themselves and each other on some simple core-building exercise - just to get better - and to be better than the next guy. Unfortunately, while some took the challenge to heart, others copped out for the worst reason possible. "You can't do that unless you're on steroids."

Ouch.

I also talked to them about some new insights from Perry Husband on the core stretch and its effect on bat speed and ball exit speed - along the lines of what Kevin Goodman has been talking about on WebBall. Only Perry's examples were with high school players - albeit elite players - who can generate speeds of 96 to 105 mph off a tee - no recoil from a pitch, just straight static hitting. The reaction among my group: "Right and those guys are on 'roids too."

Double ouch.

The notion that steroids are the sole reason for success - not training, not technique, not attitude or approach or commitment, is a spreading epidemic in youth baseball. "I won't get to the top otherwise, so why bother." 

It's as if a refusal to cheat is condemning these kids to fail. They have given themselves permission to fail by choosing to stay "straight".

That's not what should be happening. 

That's not what baseball should be all about. But it sure seems to be where it's headed unless this is stopped now. Consider, too, the parent who is thinking about signing up a son to play organized sports - baseball, football, soccer, hockey, basketball, you name it. Should that parent hesitate, wondering if signing up this player is going to put him at the first step on a path that will inevitably lead to failure - or abuse?

Suggestions have been made to mandate testing of kids at the high school level. It may unfortunately come to that, but that is just the wrong end of the stick. What we need to do is remove the allure of steroids, by removing it from the equation once and for all.

Will the MLB really do it? So far it seems unlikely. Yes, they have testing now, but for the next several years more players will be uncovered who at some point abused to get ahead.

It might be the consequences of contract pressures, or performance anxiety, of the all-mighty attraction of fame and fortune. I really don't care what the excuse is, it happened.

Now within the MLB the grumblings might be about MVPs and records. Or it might be a challenge from a disgruntled pitcher whose career was shortened, and his Win/Loss record was less than it could have been, just because he had to face juiced hitters.

Again, I don't care. It wouldn't matter how many asterisks where plastered across the record books or showed up in the data on baseball-reference.com.

What does matter - the only thing that should matter to you and to me - is the dire consequences of what I faced last night. And of the countless questions every coach, parent, and competitor faces when some kid who was so-so last year is suddenly a stud by the next season.

Sure the transformation could be from natural growth, hard work, and being in the right spot in the gene pool - but you wonder, don't you? I know I do.

Another thought... 

Someone else suggested to me that we get some kind of movement going to show our displeasure with MLB by banning pro team names from LL and other youth leagues - maybe a petition?

I appreciate the sentiment, truly. But it somehow sits right there in my gut alongside the idea of testing kids. A necessary reaction, perhaps, but not what should be happening. I mean, kids need heroes to look up to - that's what this is also all about, isn't it? Even those teenage players who won't make it to college or the pros have a right to dream, have a right to hang posters, keep baseball cards trading, and have their own team named after idols? Don't they?

No, the problem really is the MLB's to solve. And now.

In the meantime, I'll keep coaching because I love the game itself... the artistry, the timing, the sounds and smells of leather, pine tar, grass and clean air. Am I nostalgic? Maybe. A personal consequence of getting old. Of remembering simpler times. Purer days.

As to how you or I should respond when you hear the excuses that I have heard - I don't have all the answers. I'm hoping you do. If even 1% of the people reading this get back to me with concrete ideas - techniques (without testing) that they've used to keep their team, association, or league free from steroid abuse -  boy, I would love to share those ideas. We could create a whole section under TRAINING for that.