Even the big hitters of baseball’s diamond are now using the knowledge of the Octagon to improve their strength and performance.

For mixed martial arts fans, the description in the batter's box (left) sounds awfully similar to a fighter who is poised to shoot and attempt a single or double-leg takedown. However, to baseball fans the description is just as appropriate for a hitter in the batter’s box or a pitcher on the mound. 

Baseball players might actually be some of the worst fighters in sports (ever seen an on-field brawl at a Major League Baseball game? It’s more ugly than a food fight in a junior high school cafeteria), but fans of both sports might be surprised how MMA and baseball require so many similar kinesthetic movements and thus the same training requirements. And because of this, more and more baseball players are employing MMA-type training within their off-season workout regimes. 

They may not be stepping into the cage or onto the mat in competition – baseball struggles enough with so many elbow, shoulder and other joint injuries that applying a kimura on a pitcher might not be the smartest career move. However, many baseball stars have scaled down their weightlifting routines in favor of martial arts and resistance exercises that better mimic baseball movements and actions to ply muscle memory and retain flexibility. And the common denominators between the two sports are strengthening the athletic core and intensifying cardiovascular training.

Indeed, MMA has made fans out of baseball players not just from the entertainment standpoint, but they’ve become fans of MMA for its training ethos as well. Athletes are all interested in gaining an edge and many baseball players are finding that edge through mixed martial arts.

Panda express

After a disastrous 2010 season that saw San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval go from hitting a robust .330 with 25 homers and 90 RBI in 2009, to .268, 13 and 63 in 2010, something needed to be done about Sandoval’s equally robust waistline.

He was in danger of being sent to the minor leagues or, worse yet, just being flat-out released from his contract if he did not improve his conditioning in the off-season. Personal problems (a divorce and ugly custody battle) played its part in his weight ballooning to 274lb, but the man fans called 'Kung Fu Panda' simply needed to learn how to take care of his body.

“He’s got to take responsibility for losing weight and getting in the condition he needs to be in,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said to the media shortly after the 2010 World Series.

“I don’t know what else our training staff could have done.

We had food brought to him. We educated Pablo and his family, but at some point you’ve got to do it yourself. He knows that now.”

He enlisted the help of trainer Ethan Banning of Triple Threat Performance in Tempe, Arizona. The Giants’ off-season training facility is in nearby Scottsdale, so working with Banning was simple and efficient. Sandoval also received help from US decathlete Dan O’Brien and Greg Oliver, the trainer for former Giants slugger and baseball’s reigning home run king Barry Bonds.

As Sandoval began his reformation this past off-season, he was in such bad condition he was unable to do walking lunges for more than five or six yards at a time without having to rest. He could not do a single push-up or pull-up. 

According to Banner, Sandoval’s program consisted five main goals: weight loss, general physical preparedness, increase mobility, strength and power development and increase functional strength.

To do this they began with mainly body weight resistance exercises like lunges, pull-ups and push-ups he couldn’t do, then eventually adding crabwalks, bear crawls, side lunges and squat thrusts that are now part of his everyday routine.

If these exercises sound strikingly familiar to MMA fans, it’s because most fighters do them every day as part of their conditioning. 

Banner also incorporated other exercises that have become trademark MMA – sledgehammering tractor tires, medicine ball slams and a tackling sled. He also did sprint work with O’Brien and apparently got one piece of MMA-style advice from Bonds: “Get patient at home plate and look for a pitch you can punch with your hands.”

As a result, Sandoval trimmed down from 274lb to his current 240lb, looking more like the kung fu in his nickname, rather than the panda.

At the outset of his training, Banner said Sandoval could not even squat 135lb. Now he can squat over 400. The results have been obvious on the field as well, as Sandoval has rebounded from an early season hand injury to post a .296 average with 18 homers and 56 RBI in just 378 at-bats.

“Some could say I had no choice. I had to get in better shape,” Sandoval says. “But it exactly was a choice. I chose to save my career and get into shape.” And he isn’t the only one.

Pride of the Yankees

When catcher Russell Martin decided to seek out UFC welterweight champion George St Pierre, it wasn’t because he was a fan or even because they are fellow Quebec residents.

Rather, he was a fan of St Pierre’s training and conditioning.

Martin had suffered through a bad season with hip and knee problems… Enter GSP trainer Jonathan Chaimberg.

With Chaimberg, the Yankees star trained six days a week MMA style, going through a crucible of exercises similar to Sandoval.

Knee surgery to fix a torn meniscus disrupted the workout routine last December, but Martin had already shed 15 pounds and several percentages of body fat.

“MMA fighters might be the best-conditioned athletes in the world, so it only makes sense that any professional athlete would want to be in peak physical condition like them,” Martin says.

“Because in baseball, if I’m tired or out of shape, I don’t get to a ball in the dirt and the guy on third scores the go-ahead run. For us, that’s as bad as a fighter getting beat up.”

Martin says the big ropes were the hardest exercise he had to do, something he’s reiterated in multiple media interviews.

Apparently, they must have made an impact.

“Those things were brutal,” Martin says.

“You’re making waves with these two big heavy ropes and don’t get a lot of rest in between sets. It’s intense and it burns, but that’s what fighters are feeling in the ring. As a catcher, behind the plate, it’s a lot like that. That requires stamina and endurance.”

And while Martin’s overall numbers might not indicate he’s back to his All-Star form from 2007 and 2008 when he averaged 153 games played and slugged 32 homers and 156 RBI combined.

As the 2011 season entered its last month of regular season play, Martin was hitting .240 with 17 homers and 61 RBI in just 112 games played.

“I came into the season in what might have been the best shape of my life,” Martin says, “but injuries are part of the game, especially for a catcher. But proper training and being prepared can minimize those injuries.”  

Over a 162-game schedule, baseball players understand they must pace themselves during the season. However, that does not change the fact baseball also is a game of short, intense bursts of energy and action – whether it’s suddenly sprinting after a flyball, stealing second or swinging at a pitch 95mph fastball.

These short, intense bursts are very similar to MMA.

Reed Johnson, an outfielder with the Chicago Cubs, trained several years with former UFC champion Frank 'Twinkle Toes' Trigg.

A resident of Las Vegas, Johnson worked on many core exercises like Sandoval and Martin in order to strengthen his back, a problem area of injury ever since his beginning days in MLB with the Toronto Blue Jays.

“Frank Trigg is one of my good friends back home,” Johnson says.

“He’s a good fighter and usually sits around 170 or 185. Forrest Griffin rehabbed his shoulder at the same place I did, so I had a chance to get to know him real well. Both of them really got me into mixed martial arts.”

Johnson is known for his daredevil leaping catches up against outfield walls or splayed out in the grass. Part of that comes from Johnson’s background as an all-state gymnast in California. But it is a testament to his playing style. Unfortunately, that reckless abandon, while endearing to coaches and fans, can batter the body to a pulp.

So Johnson knows he needs to train twice as intensely. Mixed martial arts-type training satisfies that.

“I think a lot of my off-season training and why I think I’ve been successful in the big leagues is because of what I put my body through,” Johnson says. “You see those MMA guys train and see how intense their workouts are and what they put themselves through, not just physically, but mentally, to get ready for a fight, you just have a lot of respect for that. A guy who takes pride in preparing himself like that – I just respect them a lot.”

For Johnson, incorporating some of the MMA training was helpful and easy, too. Besides consulting Trigg and Griffin, MMA workouts are popular all over the Internet. 

“You can just punch in a fighter’s name in YouTube and watch their training regimen and get some ideas from them,” says Johnson, who came into spring camp 10lb lighter.

“A lot of fighters rarely have back problems and you wonder why that is. I think it’s because they do so much cardio and core work and keep their weight down.” 

One exercise Johnson learned from Trigg in his core regimen is the side plank. He’ll do planks with dumbbells or kettlebells on the floor.

Of course, if those get too easy, he’ll incorporate a bosu ball. And if that gets too easy, he adds a swiss ball. 

Fans, promoters of MMA

Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Brandon Guyer is built more like a linebacker than he is a baseball player. He made his major-league debut May 6th 2011, but has spent most of the season in the minor leagues at Triple-A Durham.

There’s a lot of travel in minor-league baseball, long bus trips, long airplane trips, early morning wake-up calls, and late-night flights to podunk hellholes in Oklahoma and Tennessee. Players often look for anything to do in these small minor-league towns.

Guyer found himself venturing out on his own because there weren’t any teammates willing to go with him. He always sought out the nearest sports bar if a UFC bout was scheduled that weekend.

“It was hard because a lot of my teammates didn’t watch MMA”

Guyer says. “But I am such a huge fan, no matter where I am in the country, I’ll go look for a place that’s showing the fights.”

This kind of devotion to the sport resides both in its fan base and in its practitioners. As a growing number of baseball players have incorporated MMA-type training, other baseball people have taken it even further. 

Jayson Werth, an All-Star outfielder for the Washington Nationals, is the co-owner of Captial City Cage Wars, an MMA fight promotion located in Springfield, Illinois. As a native of the area, Werth brings MMA to the local scene for central Illinois.

The promotion has been in operation for about three years and has seen growth in attendance every year. Werth has previously mentioned CCCW will average about 2,000 people per show.

Werth’s love for MMA has had some direct impact on the UFC.

Current UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione, an Indiana native, attributes his MMA career directly to Werth’s encouragement.

Mitrione, a former football and wrestling star at Purdue University caught the MMA bug from Werth and sought out Chris Lytle and Jake O’Brien in nearby Indianapolis.

“My good friend Jayson Werth who plays baseball for the Nationals, he’s the one who got me involved in MMA, I pretty much owe my success and opportunity to Jayson otherwise I probably wouldn’t have ever done it, just watched it from afar.”

Other baseball players such as Tigers pitcher Brad Penny, White Sox outfielder Adam Dunn and Atlanta second baseman Dan Uggla are also big MMA fans. Though Penny and Dunn have reportedly “trained” with Dan Henderson – perhaps learning a high kick or how to punch – one thing is for sure: they love the sport and the fighters. 

Then there’s Mark Cuban. Though he’s known for being the maverick owner of the NBA Dallas Mavericks, Cuban has been long tied to attempts to purchase MLB franchises such as the Pittsburgh Pirates, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers. Cuban’s love for baseball is matched only by his love for basketball… and MMA.

 “Anything that prepares a fighter for five-minute rounds could help [anyone’s workout],” Cuban says. Cuban’s own HDNet gave the WEC its start several years ago, and suddenly a mogul of the NBA became a fan of MMA. “The cardio requirements are incredible,” he adds.

“About the only thing I have tried are some of the core exercises.” 

Cuban is a big fan of current TUF coach Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller and any of UFC heavyweight Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson’s fights.

“The strategy and intensity of [boxing and MMA] are completely different,” Cuban says. “Boxing has more of an ebb and flow throughout a match. MMA on the other hand is spontaneous. There are so many ways to end a fight that you can never look away.”

Baseball players have long been maligned for being the “soft” sport. Casual observers snicker it doesn’t seem at all as brutal as football or as in constant motion as basketball and hockey. And certainly the country club countenance of spring training does nothing to put the stereotype to rest. But with so many baseball players incorporating an MMA feel within their training regimens, playing mentalities and work ethics, it seems that America’s pastime has added a little punch to its persona.

The competitor stands in an athletic pose – knees bent, butt sticking out just a tad, hips ready to explode.

He’s on the balls of his feet, so balance is essential for his timing and the power movement he is about to perform. His shoulders, arms and hands remain loose and ready, but his center core – obliques, abdominals, rhomboids, lats and lower back are all tensed and ready, anticipating a violent snap to attention when action is required.

A short history of martial arts on the baseball diamond

So you thought MMA only happened in an Octagon? Think again.

Over the years, there have been several donnybrooks that showcased a martial-art move on the baseball diamond. Didn’t we say baseball players were horrible fighters? Well, in these three instances they performed the moves perfectly...

August 4, 1993: Nolan Ryan vs. Robin Ventura

Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan nails White Sox third baseman Robin Ventura with a ball right between the numbers on his back.

Ventura calmly starts walking to first base before he decides to charge the mound. Tying up Ryan in some sad form of clinch, Ventura dips his head down allowing Ryan to slap on a headlock and proceed to batter Ventura’s face with a series of right uppercuts. Ryan, then miraculously still playing at 46, leaves Ventura, 21 years Ryan’s junior, with a nice shiner and a fat lip. Who says old men don’t bring the juice? 

WINNER: Ryan

June 5, 1999: Chan Ho Park vs. Tim Belcher

In a heated cross-town match-up between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Anaheim Angels, Dodgers pitcher Chan Ho Park pegs an Angels batter early in the game, then gives up a grand slam to another.

Frustrated, Park comes to bat and lays down a bunt. When Angels pitcher Tim Belcher tags Park, Park steps back and performs a perfect flying kick into Belcher’s chest. However, Belcher catches Park’s leg and piledrives Park into the grass. Once again, Belcher was 37 at the time. Park, 26. 

WINNER: Belcher

June 19, 2003: Kyle Farnsworth vs. Paul Wilson 

Cubs relief pitcher Kyle Farnsworth throws juuuust a little inside to Cincinnati pitcher Paul Wilson, who takes umbrage with Farnsworth’s chin music. Wilson and Farnsworth exchange some heated words before Wilson decides to charge Farnsworth. The lesson here? Farnsworth is six-foot-four, a brown belt in taekwondo and has grappling in his background and six percent body fat. Wilson? Six-foot-one, overweight and slow with no fighting background to speak of.

As Wilson charges Farnsworth, Farnsworth launches himself at Wilson’s waist and at the same time applies a body lock around Wilson’s torso. As he slams Wilson to the ground, Farnsworth locks his legs around one of Wilson’s, releases the body lock and proceeds with vicious rights and hammer fists on Wilson’s face, which emerges like hamburger after the chaos has ended. 

WINNER: Farnsworth