The Myth of Movement Variability Training in Baseball. Why? Because Movement Solutions Are Already Wired Into the Brain!
By Ken Cherryhomes ©2025
In the ever-expanding cottage industry of baseball training, a new wave of methodologies promises to “unlock” athletic potential through unconventional movement drills. Players are now rolling, twisting, diving, and contorting their bodies in ways that seem better suited for a circus than a baseball field. The premise? By exposing athletes to chaotic movement scenarios, they will develop a broader set of movement solutions to react more effectively in real-game situations.
But does this approach hold water, or is it another overhyped gimmick repackaging common-sense training as innovation? The reality is, these movement solutions are not something that needs to be taught—they’re something we’ve already learned, naturally, from birth.
Movement Solutions Are Encoded Early in Life
The foundation of human movement is built from the moment we enter the world. As infants, we roll, crawl, grasp, fall, and recover, encoding an extensive library of movement solutions long before we ever step onto a baseball field. This natural learning process refines itself through trial and error, governed by fundamental laws of physics and biomechanics. By the time an athlete reaches competitive sports, their body has already developed the capacity to navigate unexpected movement disruptions instinctively—not because they trained for every possible contingency, but because their brain has already mapped the necessary movement responses from real-world experiences, many of which were a product of necessity before they could even walk.
This is why the idea of training movement solutions through exaggerated, unnatural drills is flawed. It’s akin to practicing tripping on stairs in order to get better at catching yourself when you stumble. The truth is, we encounter these movement errors all the time in daily life, and we correct them without conscious effort. An athlete doesn’t need to practice rolling on the ground, contorting their body, or intentionally introducing chaos and manufactured disorder into their training to know how to dive for a baseball. Their brain and body will generate the necessary movement response in real time based on past experience and environmental constraints.
And yes, past experience and environmental constraints are exactly what shape movement solutions. That’s exactly why these methods are unnecessary. Fielders already encounter variability in their training and gameplay, from unpredictable hops to sudden adjustments in positioning. The natural chaos of baseball provides all the necessary movement challenges. Training should refine how players respond to game-specific constraints, not introduce movement patterns detached from the sport itself.
There is a difference between training within real-world constraints—such as adjusting to different ball speeds, spins, and angles—and manufacturing artificial, exaggerated movements under the assumption that more movement variety equals better performance. The best fielders aren’t great because they rehearsed every possible body position. They’re great because they’ve built a vast internal database of task-relevant experiences, allowing them to instinctively adapt when needed.
The Real Key to Fielding: Brain State and Flow
Fielding, at its core, is not about movement for movement’s sake—it is about processing and reacting. The best fielders are not the ones who trained by doing chaotic, unstructured drills; they are the ones whose brains have accumulated the most meaningful, structured reps of reading balls off the bat, taking the right angles, and reacting with efficient footwork.
This is why traditional skill-building drills—ground balls off a fungo, reaction drills with variable bounces, and situational awareness training—are far more effective than so-called “movement variability drills”. The best fielders aren’t thinking about their bodies when making a play; they are locked into the task—seeing, reacting, and moving in flow. The body follows the brain, not the other way around.
The Hitting Parallel: Obsessing Over Mechanics While Ignoring Timing
This misplaced emphasis on movement mechanics in fielding mirrors the obsession with swing mechanics in hitting while ignoring the first-order constraint of hitting: timing. Just as some trainers believe exaggerated movement variability will improve fielding, many hitting coaches believe that refining swing mechanics in isolation will lead to better results at the plate.
Like fielding, hitting is not a body-first task—it’s a brain-first task. It is governed by timing, pitch recognition, and decision-making. Without proper timing, even the most mechanically “perfect” swing is useless. Similarly, without the ability to process and react efficiently, even the most “well-trained” or movement variability-rich approach won’t make a fielder better.
The Flawed Logic of “Movement Variability Training”
The fundamental issue with movement-based training fads is that they assume the movement itself dictates success. But in reality, movement is an outcome, not an input. What dictates success in fielding is the brain’s ability to recognize patterns, anticipate outcomes, and initiate action with efficiency. The movement solution is emergent—it doesn’t need to be artificially trained.
This is why elite fielders make incredible plays without ever practicing the exact movement in advance. The game itself provides all the necessary variability—each ground ball has a slightly different spin, hop, or angle. Real skill development comes from exposure to these real-world constraints, not from artificially injecting randomness into training for the sake of movement novelty.
Conclusion: Train the Brain, Not Just the Body
Instead of chasing gimmicky movement solutions, training should focus on real-world constraints—reading and reacting to live batted balls, developing situational awareness, and improving cognitive processing speed. The best fielders aren’t just fast; they make better decisions, faster.
Just as in hitting, timing, perception, and flow state drive success in fielding. Movement solutions are already deeply encoded in the brain from years of experience, both in life and in sport. The best fielders don’t train to roll around on the ground—they train to read, react, and move efficiently.
Baseball isn’t about movement for the sake of movement. It’s about solving the right problem at the right time—something no amount of exaggerated movement training will ever replace.