How do you enhance upon a season through which you had been named an All-American? In his freshman yr at Oregon State, Travis Bazzana hit .306/.425/.478 with 16 doubles and 6 dwelling runs enroute to Freshman All-American and All-Pac-12 honors. Whereas most gamers and coaches would use the outdated “if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it” mantra, Travis got here to Driveline this summer time with the objective of hitting the ball more durable and making higher contact with pitches up within the zone.
With the ability to measure how a hitter’s physique strikes all through the swing is important for understanding methods to enhance hitting efficiency. No two athletes share the very same motion sample, however there are widespread positions and actions that the perfect hitters within the sport routinely display. Elite stage hitters even have a superb really feel for what their strengths/weaknesses are and the way they’ll tailor their sport to handle them. However how does one strategy improvement with elite hitters in order that they enhance their deficiencies with out sacrificing the traits that make them particular?
Whereas using applied sciences like Blast Movement and HitTrax to trace the bat and ball-flight is a good way to watch the result of the swing, movement seize is invaluable as a result of it permits one to know the underlying mechanisms resulting in these outcomes. Previously, coaches and athletes have used 2D video as a option to determine and monitor modifications to a hitter’s swing however that is subjective and doesn’t inform the total story of how the hitter was producing the swing, particularly in elite hitters when the margins are smaller. For this reason we use movement seize, which permits us to quantify the motion of the swing and get on the smaller coaching margins that exist when working with elite-level athletes. To see how movement seize can be utilized to assist elite hitters improve their swing, let’s check out knowledge from Travis’s evaluation in June of 2022 and his retest in August.
WHAT CHANGED AND HOW DID IT CHANGE?
Previous to coming to Driveline, Travis already possessed elite-level skills in two of the three elements of Driveline’s “Huge 3”: bat-to-ball expertise and swing choices. In different phrases, Travis was already nice at figuring out when to swing and making stable contact when he did, so rising his bat velocity and decreasing his assault angle would enhance his skill to hit for energy and canopy all elements of the zone.
That is the place leveraging biomechanical knowledge from movement seize assessments makes all of the distinction in monitoring motion modifications and making certain that the hitter isn’t creating new issues for his or her swing throughout coaching. When evaluating the information from Travis’s preliminary movement seize evaluation to his retest evaluation, some obtrusive modifications in his swing depth, posture, and the way he was “turning” the barrel seem, which seemingly performed a task in his improved bat velocity and assault angle.
Posture:
One of many first changes Travis’ hitting coach, Andrew Aydt, recommended for Travis was to deal with sustaining a extra upright posture in his stance and swing. The thought was that this is able to produce much less aspect bend in Travis’ swing, making a tighter rotation and permitting him to make higher contact with pitches up within the zone or pitches with decrease vertical strategy angles. Utilizing movement seize knowledge, we will have a look at the angle of the torso all through the swing to quantify aspect bend.
When evaluating Travis’s preliminary evaluation in June along with his 6-week retest, the lower in aspect bend is straightforward to see and permits him to be in a extra upright place that will get his lead arm to take care of a extra flat swing path as he rotates by way of contact. As you possibly can see, the 6.98 diploma lower in aspect bend was all it took for Travis to position his physique able to generate a flatter swing aircraft.
Swing Depth:
With the ability to measure the quantity of aspect bend a hitter has can inform you a large number about how flat or steep their swing is, however to know for positive we’ve to take a look at how the barrel is transferring by way of area. To try this, we will have a look at the overall vertical displacement of the candy spot (a degree measured 6 inches from the tip of the bat) through the swing to see how flat or steep it’s. In different phrases, we’re wanting on the distinction between the best & lowest vertical positions of the candy spot through the swing. When evaluating Travis’ two movement seize periods, his common vertical barrel displacement decreased by over 5 inches, indicating a flatter swing arc. As you possibly can see, his bat traveled a better distance vertically in his preliminary evaluation (crimson), making a steeper swing profile that doesn’t permit him to match planes with pitches up within the zone.
Because of this Travis was capable of set up a extra environment friendly swing sample through the use of much less area and swinging the bat quicker. And a flatter, extra environment friendly swing sample led to outcomes like this:
Barrel Flip:
Swinging the bat quicker and producing a flatter swing aircraft is nice, nevertheless it doesn’t actually matter if the hitter is “pushy” with their arms or lacks adjustability and the power to show the barrel appropriately. There are seemingly a number of various factors that may result in a pushy swing, however we will quantify this with movement seize knowledge. By prime hand max wrist supination in tandem with the speed at which the hitter is supinating their wrist from the loaded place till contact, we will get a fairly good sense of a hitter’s skill to withstand releasing their barrel too early. Extra prime hand wrist supination might inform us that the hitter is popping the barrel too early. As we will see, Travis decreased his wrist supination, demonstrating that he wasn’t releasing the barrel too early. This may be seen within the picture beneath with a better total worth on the finish of the graph or round contact.
CONCLUSION:
So, let’s do a fast recap of what precisely Travis Bazzana was capable of do throughout simply six quick weeks of coaching at Driveline this summer time: he elevated his bat velocity by 5 mph, elevated his prime 8th exit velocity by 4.3 mph, and developed a flatter swing that can permit him to match his swing aircraft to pitches up within the zone. We will quantify these issues and way more, particularly as the mixing of ball-tracking programs into movement seize programs improves. Monitoring a participant’s exit velocity and bat velocity exhibits what an athlete’s skill is and the sort of expertise has develop into way more prevalent in participant improvement because of commercially obtainable programs, the identical can’t be stated of the kinematic variables that assist clarify to athletes and workers the how of their improvement. As we’ve seen occur with the event of pitchers, the day will come the place movement seize and biomechanical knowledge are stipulations for any group that’s severe about creating hitters.
