The Relationship Between Bat Velocity And Measures Of Strength And Power In Ncaa Division Ii Baseball Players

Abstract

PURPOSE: This study was designed to examine the relationship between measures of upper and lower-body strength and power components and instantaneous bat velocity in NCAA Division II Collegiate baseball players. METHODS: Ten Division II collegiate baseball players (age: 20.3 ± 1.3 years; mass: 89.6 ± 12.1 kg; average years of experience: 14.9 ± 1.6; 7 right-handed batters) volunteered to participate in this study. Each subject completed two days of testing with a week between test days. Day 1 consisted of 5 repetition maximum bench press, 5 repetition squat, and grip strength. Day 2 consisted of lower body power (vertical jump performed on a contact mat), upper-body power (plyometric pushup performed on a force plate) and instantaneous bat velocity testing. A 3D motion analysis system sampling at 200 Hz was used to record the instantaneous bat velocity with the players hitting a ball from a tee. Spearman rank correlations were performed to establish the magnitude of the relationships between the variables. RESULTS: The magnitude of the relationships between the measures of strength and power and bat velocity ranged from small to large (-0.103 to 0.583) and none were significant (p>0.05). The largest correlation was found between left-hand grip strength and instantaneous bat velocity (0.583). CONCLUSION: Findings from this study suggest the importance of possibly implementing hand grip training to aid in an increase in instantaneous bat velocity. Since the upper-body and lower-body strength components demonstrated only small correlations with bat velocity, training should consist of working on mechanical efficiency of the players swing once muscular strength and power have been developed.