For the second time in a week, Detroit Tigers strength and conditioning coach Javair Gillett has received national press. This time it was part of a Wall Street Journal profile on new workout routines in Major League Baseball (WSJ reg required)

Javair Gillett, the Tigers’ strength coach, says the team has long visited players during the off-season, but he has stepped up his travels lately, even flying down to Venezuela this winter to see shortstop Carlos Guillen. Drills he runs in his visits include one in which the player stands on an unsteady platform and tosses a medicine ball back and forth with a partner, which works the abdominal muscles, the back and the arms while also aiding hand-eye coordination and balance. Mr. Gillett follows up with players once or twice a month by phone and also consults with personal trainers that some players hire for themselves. “If they don’t come back stronger and faster and quicker, that looks bad on me,” Mr. Gillett says.

It’s nice to hear about the efforts that Gillett and the Tigers’ organization have made to keep the players ready to perform. It becomes especially relevant for a team that is playing veterans at so many physcially demanding defensive positions (catcher, shortstop, second base).
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