Here’s one way to make a baseball monster: take the speed-blurred legs of Ichiro, the homerun snatching glove of Andruw Jones and the powerful hit-machine core of A-Rod, and hire yourself a deranged doctor by the name of Frnakenstein.

Here’s another way: take a kid with tremendous natural speed, talent, athleticism and motivation and use training to minimize any weakness and maximize his existing athletic potential.

Red Sox outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury is this kind of baseball Monster. Ellsbury blasted a record SPARQ Rating as he prepped for the ‘08 season.

In March 2008, SPARQ Mag hooked up with Olympic decathlete Bryan Clay to see how he’d compare to some top rated athletes we’ve tested.

Athletes who train and compete to do the decathlon- the 10-sport track & field event that includes 110-meter hurdles, long jump, pole vault, and javelin, among others -are often dubbed the World’s Greatest Athlete. In a recent round of SPARQ Testing, the current world-champion decathlete, Bryan Clay, proved he deserves that lofty title.

Q: “I’ve always had a pretty good batting average, but never had good power. Any tips for improving batting power?”

Sometimes in sports, you find a concept that’s brilliant in its simplicity: you can’t hit what you can’t see.

Todd Norman continues his series on strength training advice.

SPARQ Trainer Rick Scarpulla gives pitching-specific warmup tips and drills to help Baseball and Fastpitch athletes prevent shoulder injury.

Q: “What is the point of using vertical jump in the baseball SPARQ Rating?”

The swing is not a robotic thing. It’s got flow. Soul. It’s as unique as your fingerprint.

When you stop conditioning you become more prone to injury. Rick Scarpulla explains why you must continue to work at speed and strength in order to maintain the gains you have made.

Ladder drills are simple and effective, and extremely easy to modify. One drill can be done in many different ways by simply adding extra steps, adding a ball toss, or by going in a different direction.