In this series of short articles and video analyses, as a part of assessing our hitters, I will be going over different components of baseball hitting mechanics, while Nunzio will help highlight potential issues and correctives both inside and outside the nets. Today’s topic on hitting mechanics is Sway, and it starts at with the stance and set up… Continue reading “Baseball Hitting Mechanics… How to Address Sway?”
As an athlete, you are not able to move efficiently if your body isn’t in a position to do so. Incorporating assessments, strength training and data analytics into how we train players is a bit of an art. Since each and every player is different in every way, the key is to parse through the information and determine which pieces are relevant for each player. Below is a typical assessment for position players at our facility and it’s broken up into several sections:
Let’s review these with some specificity… Continue reading “How We Assess Hitters at RPP Baseball”
HITTING IS HARD! Fortunately, technologies such as K-Vest Baseball, Blast and Rapsodo allow us to measure many metrics and movements, thus, giving the hitter a better chance to succeed. Unless you can understand and incorporate data into your training the value of data would be meaningless. I should also add that it is easy for hitters to get lost in the numbers unless the collective data is properly incorporated into their training.
As an athlete, you are not able to move efficiently if your body isn’t in a position to do so. In terms of timing, if your lower half isn’t in a strong stable position to efficiently transfer energy and allow the upper half to move, then you will have a tough time hitting at any level.
It is important to understand how the lower body is behaving and how it should behave when a player is “on time”. Here are 3 questions to ask when analyzing timing through the Pelvis of a Kinematic Sequence as measured by the K-Vest Baseball: Continue reading “3 Questions When Analyzing Kinematic Sequence with K-Vest Baseball”
During the past year several showcases announced partnerships with technology companies, whereby participants skills are measured during their events. We’re not talking about the usual 60-yard dash. We’re talking about esoteric topics like vertical bat angles of a swing and spin efficiency levels on a pitch. On the one hand this is great news for the game. Technology is changing baseball for the better and the data can be invaluable for both training and evaluation. On the other hand, although I am a big believer in tech and the value it brings, there is an issue. Continue reading “What to Do With All the Data Coming Out of Showcases?”
By Nunzio Signore (BA, CSCS, CPT, NASM, FMS)
Continuing with the most popular articles of 2019, here we go with Part 2 of this series, the most popular:
Continue reading “The Best of 2019 — Top Pitching and Hitting Related Articles”
RPP Baseball is a high performance baseball training facility located in Paramus (Bergen county), New Jersey. From the weight room to our pitching and hitting programs, we utilize the latest in technology, in a holistic and data-driven approach which allows us to assess, train and re-assess players on an ongoing basis. Our athletes are walking testimonials as to the power of our highly customized programming. Below is a summary of our extensive services for pitchers and baseball players: Continue reading “New Jersey’s Most Comprehensive Baseball Training Facility”
In my previous internship before RPP, part of my responsibilities included watching Minor League baseball games. After my first few games, I noticed a recurring trend, every player wore a Blast Motion Baseball sensor during the game. As I saw more organizations’ Minor League teams, not all had their players wear the sensors; however, the idea behind it was simple, data collection.
At RPP, we use Blast Motion sensors for the same purpose, and this allows us to help identify and develop athletes’ inefficiencies. The only difference is we do not have the ability to collect data from athletes’ in-game at-bats. Therefore, we collect data from batting practice at our facility and are still able to get a good picture of what an athlete does well, and what they struggle with.
Continue reading “Blast Motion Baseball Metrics, Rotation, Angles and Power”
An efficient swing path allows a hitter to keep the barrel in the hitting zone from approximately the back of home plate all the way through contact and ultimately into extension where the bat should continue to stay on plane with the flight of the ball. Once competition reaches higher levels (i.e higher throwing velocities, better ball movement), an athlete’s “preferred posture” becomes a necessity to create a more optimal vertical bat angle and allow the athlete to better adjust to pitches higher or lower in the zone. Continue reading “Training Players with the K-Vest for Improved Swing Mechanics”
In this multi-part series on hitting, we’re going to break down hitting into several components, perhaps in ways you haven’t seen before. Today we’re going to start with the baseball swing plane and tell you about the two highly relevant things you should know. Continue reading “Two Important Topics about Your Baseball Swing Plane”
Not all throwing and hitting motions are created equal. Some guys rely more on strength, some guys elasticity (facial tissue) and some are simply genetic “outliers” (there’s that fascia again). But close analysis, in not only numerous studies but also from my own experience at the facility, reveals that there is one common denominator why hard throwers create effortless velocity and command, as well as power hitters creating high exit velos behind the plate.
