How do you enhance upon a season wherein you had been named an All-American? In his freshman 12 months 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 previous “if it ain’t broke, don’t repair it” mantra, Travis got here to Driveline this summer season with the purpose 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 essential for understanding how one can enhance hitting efficiency. No two athletes share the very same motion sample, however there are frequent positions and actions that the very best hitters within the sport routinely show. Elite stage hitters even have a wonderful really feel for what their strengths/weaknesses are and the way they’ll tailor their sport to deal with them. However how does one strategy growth 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 grasp the underlying mechanisms resulting in these outcomes. Previously, coaches and athletes have used 2D video as a approach to determine and monitor modifications to a hitter’s swing however that is subjective and doesn’t inform the complete story of how the hitter was producing the swing, particularly in elite hitters when the margins are smaller. Because of this 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 information 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 “Massive 3”: bat-to-ball expertise and swing selections. In different phrases, Travis was already nice at figuring out when to swing and making strong contact when he did, so growing his bat velocity and decreasing his assault angle would enhance his capacity to hit for energy and canopy all components of the zone.
That is the place leveraging biomechanical information 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 evident modifications in his swing depth, posture, and the way he was “turning” the barrel seem, which probably performed a task in his improved bat velocity and assault angle.
Posture:
One of many first changes Travis’ hitting coach, Andrew Aydt, steered for Travis was to concentrate on sustaining a extra upright posture in his stance and swing. The thought was that this is able to produce much less facet 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 information, we will have a look at the angle of the torso all through the swing to quantify facet bend.
When evaluating Travis’s preliminary evaluation in June along with his 6-week retest, the lower in facet 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 means of contact. As you may see, the 6.98 diploma lower in facet bend was all it took for Travis to put his physique ready to generate a flatter swing aircraft.
Swing Depth:
With the ability to measure the quantity of facet bend a hitter has can inform you numerous about how flat or steep their swing is, however to know for certain now we have to take a look at how the barrel is transferring by means of area. To try this, we will have a look at the entire vertical displacement of the candy spot (some extent measured 6 inches from the tip of the bat) in the course of the swing to see how flat or steep it’s. In different phrases, we’re wanting on the distinction between the very best & lowest vertical positions of the candy spot in the course of the swing. When evaluating Travis’ two movement seize classes, his common vertical barrel displacement decreased by over 5 inches, indicating a flatter swing arc. As you may see, his bat traveled a larger distance vertically in his preliminary evaluation (pink), making a steeper swing profile that doesn’t permit him to match planes with pitches up within the zone.
Which means Travis was in a position to set up a extra environment friendly swing sample by utilizing 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, however 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 probably a number of various factors that may result in a pushy swing, however we will quantify this with movement seize information. By high 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 capacity to withstand releasing their barrel too early. Extra high hand wrist supination may 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 under with the next general worth on the finish of the graph or round contact.
CONCLUSION:
So, let’s do a fast recap of what precisely Travis Bazzana was in a position to do throughout simply six brief weeks of coaching at Driveline this summer season: he elevated his bat velocity by 5 mph, elevated his high 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 are able to quantify these issues and far more, particularly as the mixing of ball-tracking techniques into movement seize techniques improves. Monitoring a participant’s exit velocity and bat velocity exhibits what an athlete’s capacity is and this kind of know-how has turn into far more prevalent in participant growth because of commercially out there techniques, the identical can’t be stated of the kinematic variables that assist clarify to athletes and employees the how of their growth. As we’ve seen occur with the event of pitchers, the day will come the place movement seize and biomechanical information are conditions for any group that’s severe about growing hitters.
