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OAKLAND A'S: It's a Whole New Ballgame
Oakland A’s strength coach Bob Alejo is breaking
By Laura Dayton and Kim Goss
Published: Fall 1998
When Bob Alejo landed a job as a strength coach for UCLA in 1984, he was on top of the world. A former Olympic weightlifter and collegiate baseball player, Alejo figured this chance to coach at one of the top U.S. schools had make his life as good as it gets. But years later, when the chance arose to switch to a winning professional ball team, there was no looking back or second thoughts. He grabbed the ball and ran, so to speak.
It was 1993 and the Oakland Athletics were bashing themselves into the home run record books and leading the pennant races. Different from other baseball teams, the A’s were proud of the fact that pound for pound they had the beefiest players in the majors; and they made no bones about the fact that weightlifting was as much a part of their training protocols as it was for their neighboring football favorites, the San Francisco 49ers. Alejo saw not only the opportunity to move into the pro arena with a crack at—dare he dream it?—the World Series, but also a chance to raise awareness of the importance of strength training in the game of baseball.
“Had it been any other team,” says Alejo, “I probably wouldn’t have made the switch. As you know, baseball is behind in its approach to physical training. Everyone knows that football and weights go hand in hand, but baseball has never really embraced weight training. I knew, as an ex-player myself, that there are a lot of positive things that can be done and I knew if given the opportunity, I could prove it.”
Alejo also recognized the rare opportunity that had been given him: a real chance to change the way everyone perceived baseball conditioning.
“The Athletics were unique in that they already had a history and tradition of weight training when I arrived. The guy who had spearheaded it was Dave McKay, their first base coach, who was also a former player. As a big leaguer, he knew weight training had helped him in his career. He became one of the first strength coaches in baseball. The A’s general manager was already sold on strength training; he just wanted an expert on the subject to fine-tune the program, and that’s where I stepped into the picture.”
The “picture” in 1993 was still looking pretty rosy for the A’s. However, in 1998 Alejo has a brand-new team to work with. Sure, slugger Jose Canseco is back where he started, and base-stealer Rickey Henderson has also returned to the fold, but in essence the team is starting over.
About the upcoming season, Alejo says the A’s are looking to build a good solid base and do what other teams have done in the past: start at the bottom and build up. “Morale now isn’t any different from any other season starting out—we’re eager to go out and compete against other teams and see how good we are. I don’t think anybody is assuming we’re going to be a poor baseball team—to the contrary, everybody is prepared to work hard and play hard, and they expect to win.”
The base the A’s build this year starts with Alejo’s program. “One of the biggest mistakes any coach makes is to look at someone else’s winning program and say, ‘Let’s do it because they’re winning.’ This type of reasoning is ludicrous,” says Alejo. “We have a young, developing team. We’re going back to the basics, getting baseline data and aggressively charting our progress.”
The Athletics’ off-season training runs from November 1 to February 15. The athletes’ programs vary according to specific needs, and weight training sessions may last anywhere from a half hour to an hour and a half. Plyos, sprint training, agility drills and nutrition are also addressed. In-season training offers three training periods to choose from: morning, afternoon and evening. Usually only the players who know they are not playing that day will train right before a game; however, it’s not uncommon for players to train immediately after a game.
The Pro Challenge
Alejo stresses that training at the pro level is very different than college ball. “In college you’re accountable for your guys lifting or not lifting,” he says. “In the pros, the players are accountable for themselves—it affects their paycheck directly. But that doesn’t mean you’re baby-sitting or telling the guys, ‘Come on, come on. You have to work out, please,’ at least not in our organization. We believe in letting them sink or swim, and it works out pretty well. Everyone is treated like an adult, like a pro.”
The Athletics’ weight room is a serious place to train, but also a good place. “Let’s face it,” says Alejo, “the last couple of years we haven’t been as good as we’d like, and there were a lot of reasons for the guys not to come and work out.” To keep the weight room user-friendly, Alejo keeps the music going and all the TV'S tuned to the various games going on across the country. This promotes a good attitude, even when the team is lifting with the team they’re currently playing, a situation not uncommon during the season.
Alejo emphasizes the importance of experience if you want to succeed at coaching a pro team. He says first and foremost a coach must have been exposed to various sources of training. In his opinion, the best background to come from is college coaching. Second, he feels you must be proficient in sports medicine. “You don’t need to know everything a physical therapist or doctor knows, but you better be fluent in your ability to talk with them,” says Alejo. “You need to be privy to enough information that you can deal with these health professionals on a one-on-one basis, because injury prevention and recovery is so important at this level.
“Third, you must be prepared to work with different personalities. At the college level, you can pretty much make your athletes do what you want them to do. At the pro level you can’t because what they’re doing is going to have a direct result on their paycheck. You have to remember this is their profession, so you have to be flexible. You need to compromise.”
Compromise, Alejo points out, must be made because it’s the best course of action, and this is where experience counts. “Earlier in my career I may not have been quite so apt to question someone’s opinion or theory on conditioning,” he says. “Now that I’m older I’ve got no problem telling someone what I know and where I stand compared to what they know. I believe that’s a problem with new coaches. Until you have stability in the profession and considerable knowledge gained by experience, it’s tough to tell someone, no, that’s not right.”
Alejo’s influence extends beyond the A’s playing field, another indication of his success at this level. Most pro athletes, especially some of the bigger name players on the A’s, have a respectable knowledge and interest in conditioning. Slugger Canseco even has his own book on weight training for baseball. Therefore, developing a rapport with his athletes is essential for Alejo in guiding and integrating the training the players do on their own into the overall conditioning levels dictated by the team and the game.
“I know these guys and have been around them long enough that if they want to go off on their own and try something, they know to come to me to have a look at it first,” says Alejo, who often encourages players to branch out on their own during the winter—with his approval, that is. “When I design a program, we sit down together and go over what makes them tick, what can make them better ball players. Their input is just as important, as far as I’m concerned, as my knowledge and experience. There’s got to be mutual respect.”
Alejo’s Challenge
Alejo is as much involved in coaching his team to a great season as he is in continuing his personal quest to integrate solid weight training programs into the off and in-season training for every baseball team, at every level. He and the A’s have already accomplished much to that end in the five years he’s been with the team
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Bob Alejo Oakland A’s, Photo Credit: Micheal Zagaris
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Coach Alejo stretching Jason Giambi. Alejo stresses that training at the pro level is very different than college ball. “In college you’re accountable for your guys lifting or not lifting,” he says. “In the pros, the players are accountable for themselves—it affects their paycheck.” Photo Credit: Micheal Zagaris
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The A’s slugger Jason Giambi smashes another one. Photo Credit: Micheal Zagaris
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Oakland A Jose Canseco, who even has his own book on weight training. Recently resigned and returned to Oakland. Photo Credit: Micheal Zagaris
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Rickey Henderson poised and ready to sprint to second at any moment. Photo Credit: Micheal Zagaris
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