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Measure Your Performance
To Improve Performance
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"If you don't measure it, you can't improve it!' I'm not talking just about your box scores. Box scores tell you how well you did on the playing field, not how to improve your performance. Performance improvement requires that you objectively measure your activities.
Activities like throwing velocity, bat speed, and running speed, or
how quickly you can catch a ball and release it, get out of the batter's
box and down the 1B line, or how long it takes a pitch to get to
the catcher (for you base stealers) are all useful things to As you can see, baseball is truly a game of SPEED. As a coach, it has been one of favorite attributes. It comes to the ball park every day.
If you want to get more hits, increasing your REACTION TIME at the
plate is one way to accomplish this. Increased reaction time allows
you to read the pitch longer, improving your chances of Consider this: a 90+ mph fastball takes approximately 4 tenths of a second to travel to the plate, 60'6" away. It takes about 3 tenths of a second to actually swing your bat, leaving you about 1 tenth of a second to determine the movement, location, and velocity of the incoming pitch, AND whether or not you're going to swing. These numbers will vary somewhat for other situations, such as fastpitch softball and youth league baseball, but I think you get my point - any increase in your reaction time is a BIG plus. To gain more reaction time, you need a quicker bat. Want to hit for more power? You guessed it - you need more bat speed.
Let's say you're an infielder or outfielder and you want to throw out more
runners. You have to catch the ball and release it, sending it to
the targeted base faster than the base runner can run to it - each Why do you think scouts bring measuring devices like radar guns, stopwatches, and other such tools to the ballpark with them? Trust me, they're not spending a lot of time reading box scores because box scores can be misleading. They understand how a split second can be the difference between a hit or an out, a win or a loss. So, at a minimum, measure your running speed & throwing velocity. Initially, don't be overly concerned with how good or bad the numbers are. Just track the numbers and review them periodically as you train. Look for a trend of improvement. If you aren't improving, then it's time to make some changes to your training regimen. By the way, you don't need expensive tools to take these measurements. One useful and inexpensive device I recommend is the Radar Baseball. It's an official size and weight baseball used as a training aid for any age or skill level. You can measure distance between pitcher and catcher with the included measuring string and enter one of 8 predetermined distances into Speed Sensor (20', 30', 40', 46', 50', 60.6', 70' and 80'). GripSense technology begins to record the speed automatically the moment the ball is released, and and the LCD indicator displays pitch speed in MPH upon impact. While these can obviously be used by baseball players, softball players can also use them to measure increases in overhand throwing velocity and strength. (C) 2004 Baseball
Fit, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Quotations with
attribution permitted. Cite source as Steve Zawrotny's BASEBALL
FIT Hitting & Pitching Academy - www.BaseballFit.com
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