An Analysis Of In-game Collegiate Baseball Hitting Performance Following Sports Vision Training

Abstract

Vision training (VT) programs can be utilized to enhance perception and eye-hand coordination to potentially improve sports performance. There is general support for VT improving athletic performance, but limited research is present for in-game performance improvements, particularly for collegiate baseball. PURPOSE: To evaluate for potential benefits of a VT program on collegiate baseball team hitting performance. If beneficial, VT may be used to supplement standard baseball practice to further improve hitting performance. METHODS: The Northwestern College (NWC) varsity baseball team, a member of the NAIA Greater Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC), performed VT exercises including Brock string, King-Devick test for saccades, long-distance saccades, and near-far training in 18 sessions during the 2019 season. In-game hitting statistics for the 2018 and 2019 seasons were retrospectively collected for all GPAC teams. Two-proportion z-tests were used to compare batting average and slugging percentage between NWC and the GPAC during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. RESULTS: The overall win-loss record of NWC was 30-20 in 2018 (1st place) and 23-25 in 2019 (6th place). Three starting hitters from the 2018 team remained on the team for the 2019 season. The 2018 GPAC batting average was .280 and NWC’s was 6th in the conference at .288 (p = .261). The 2019 GPAC batting average was .281 and NWC led the conference at .304 (p = .034). Batting averages for the GPAC and NWC did not differ between the 2018-19 seasons (p = .417 and p = .171, respectively). The 2018 GPAC slugging percentage was .388 and NWC was 3rd in the conference at .423 (p = .005). The 2019 GPAC slugging percentage was .393 and NWC was 2nd in the conference at .435 (p = .001). The slugging percentages for the GPAC and NWC did not differ between the 2018-19 seasons (p = .233 and p = .261, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: The team batting average was significantly better than the conference average during the season with VT despite losing six starting hitters from the prior season. These differences were not observed in the season before VT. Slugging percentage improved only minimally with VT. These outcomes suggest that VT may improve the in-game batting performance of collegiate baseball players and confirm previous research on the effects of VT on collegiate baseball hitting.