Should physical strength be measured

[daywalkerdad]

Yes, we measure bat speed at tryouts. Fun fact, we have found no correlation between overall bat speed and batting average.

Bat speed is a piece of the puzzle but on its own, it doesn't mean a whole lot

Do you use ba as the best metric for a hitter? What about Ops?
I would not expect bat speed to increase average but extra base hits.

 

[JayW]

Do you use ba as the best metric for a hitter? What about Ops?
I would not expect bat speed to increase average but extra base hits.

A harder hit ground ball or line drive is more likely to be a base hit. Less reaction time for the fielder. Common sense.

 

[daywalkerdad]

A harder hit ground ball or line drive is more likely to be a base hit. Less reaction time for the fielder. Common sense.

Post was about not just looking at batting average but ops, or other stats that correlate better with run production.
Line drives are best, but grounders are least do to lack of extra base hits.

Ground Balls: A Hitter’s Best Friend?

It is often said that to succeed, you want to hit the ball on the ground and put pressure on the defense. But does that maxim hold up to scrutiny?

tht.fangraphs.com

 

[CoachJD]

So when speed reading the studies I have concluded that it is a good idea to swing a heavy bat (camwood) both right and left handed.

I've seen the exact opposite, though we might be talking about different things. What I've seen is that swinging a heavier bat (or using a donut) slows down bat speed.

But there might be a difference between swinging a heavy bat a few times in the on deck circle and training with a heavier bat to build strength.

It's also possible that the weight distribution difference between a heavy bat and a bat with a donut could matter.

 

[CoachBNC]

So when speed reading the studies I have concluded that it is a good idea to swing a heavy bat (camwood) both right and left handed.
But I still believe medicine balls and those water loaded tube devices are beneficial for core strength. Also I don't think 8, 9, 10, or 11 year olds are good test models.

My experience is that training with underweight, normal weight, and overweight bats (say, +/- 10% or 20%) in a low-ish number of swings (say, a total of 50-75 swings per session) two or three times a week is that I see significant increases in bat speed for most players in four or five weeks.

Medicine ball training can surely be an effective method to develop general strength and power. Does adding medicine ball rotational training to a player's workouts increase bat speed or throwing velocity? I haven't seen a study that actually measured the bat speed before and after a med ball training intervention with a control group that specifically claimed to see an increase in bat speed. Instead, we have this (imperfect, but hey, it's data) paper specifically saying that adding med balls to a (way too small) group of 8-13 year old girls didn't have any effect on bat speed after a 12 week training intervention. We've got several interesting (and recent) studies that show some correlation of med ball explosiveness measures and swing speeds but that seems a long way from saying we should, for example, add a couple sets of med ball hitter's throws and take away 20 swings from our training plan if our goal is a faster swing . . .

I realize this is a bit silly to focus on. I haven't had the pleasure of working with a softball athlete who was so well-trained and generally prepared that she wouldn't benefit from some (and usually, any) non-specific physical training. But my first thought when given a hitter with a 40 MPH swing on the Blast is never "break out the medicine balls to fix this!"

 

[Rolling Hard]

I've seen the exact opposite, though we might be talking about different things. What I've seen is that swinging a heavier bat (or using a donut) slows down bat speed.

But there might be a difference between swinging a heavy bat a few times in the on deck circle and training with a heavier bat to build strength.

It's also possible that the weight distribution difference between a heavy bat and a bat with a donut could matter.

A doughnut and a camwood bat are almost polat opposites. Coach BNC comments are interesting.
Coach BNC are you suggesting that 40 mph swing has bigger problems than core strength? 40 mph at 8 or maybe 10u might not indicate a poor swing.
So in the end, strength is important but so is mechanics, athleticism, eye hand coordination, approach, confidence, vision and mind set.
I don't think D1 P4 college coaches are recruiting weaker players they think they can make stronger. Maybe I am wrong?