- Apr 14, 2022
- 658
- 63
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.
Should physical strength be measured
- Thread starter RADcatchers
- Start date
Welcome to Discuss Fastpitch
Your FREE Account is waiting to the Best Softball Community on the Web.
I would not expect bat speed to increase average but extra base hits.
- Oct 14, 2019
- 1,026
- 113
A harder hit ground ball or line drive is more likely to be a base hit. Less reaction time for the fielder. Common sense.
- Apr 14, 2022
- 658
- 63
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?
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.
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!"
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?
Should physical strength be measured??? There's a lot to unpack in this question. I don't think testing individuals will prove much. However strength training can certainly improve performance and durability. Many PGA Tour Professionals spend a lot of time in the weight room and golf is a skill based sport. Strength training for softball players is somewhat complicated. A little known fact is that women have less type II muscle mass than men. Type II muscle is responsible for speed and power. So, once a basic level of strength is accomplished through traditional weight training, workouts should include ballistic training exercises which focus on recruiting and strengthening type II muscle fibers.
- May 13, 2021
- 700
- 93
I think elite players at the college level all strength train. A player would have a hard time staying at that level if they were not strength training.
It won't make you elite, but if all the other elite players are doing it and you are not you will be left behind.
It won't make you elite, but if all the other elite players are doing it and you are not you will be left behind.
If the test is bat speed and the goal is to increase bat speed from 40 MPH, my training plans will focus on swinging bats with some small-ish variation in bat weight, measuring swing speeds with a Blast, and working on the intent of moving the bat fast with additional variety in stance and movement during drills.
I’m probably not going to think about core strength at all - not because I don’t want players to develop core strength, but rather I think a training plan built around swinging bats is going to develop the aspects of core strength specific to the bat speed qualities I want the player to develop.
When it comes to training for sport-specific outcomes like bat speed, I’m really looking for the most effective interventions. If med ball rotational training doesn’t consistently increase bat speed in ways we can measure for most athletes or is less effective than other training interventions, I don’t care about med ball rotational training for the purpose of training bat speed.
