Bat Speed vs Squat, Deadlift, and Bench: Can We Correlate Weight Lifting with Bat Speed?
This article is more of a “guest post” by our Data Analytics team. Brett Heitschmidt and Ryan Morrissey handle most of our data tracking and this specific study was the first one they decided to tackle. The sample size is small, but it gives them (and myself) some practice in collecting data and breaking it down in ways to help expedite our player development. I wish I could take credit for this project, but all I did was provide them with hitters and sensors, and the words, “Sounds great!” when they told me their idea. Outside of that, this project was all of them. They collected the data, taught themselves charts and formulas in Excel, and wrote the hypothesis, thesis statement, and conclusion. These guys work extremely hard and I am blessed to be their coach! I hope that I will continue to have more of their work that I can publish here to help get them the exposure they deserve. So let’s dive into these numbers!
Hesston College Baseball Data Analytics
Bat Speed vs Front-Squat, Deadlift, Bench
Ryan Morrissey Head of Baseball Operations/Data Analyst
Brett Heitschmidt Head of Baseball Personnel/Data Analyst
Study Date: November 8th, 2019
Intro/Hypothesis:
We conducted a study with a sample size of 23 hitters of our hitters (n=23). We were looking to find the relationship between bat speed vs squat, deadlift, and bench. Going into this we came with the understanding that being able to lift more will generally promote better bat speed, but through this study, we were looking to see what the correlation was between bat speed and these different lifts. Our goal is to get all of our hitters to achieve an average bat speed of 79.5 mph against the machine. The number 79.5 mph isn’t a random number, this is the information we have received from Coach Glaum. He says from what he has read in the book “Based on Science: Raise OPS on The Swing Trajectory of the Fly Ball Hitting Method” by Tachibana Ryuji, that having a bat speed of 79.5 mph with an exit velocity of 98.17 mph the ball is considered “barreled.” For our hitters the higher the chance to maintain a higher bat speed the greater the chance to get a “barreled” ball. We want to see if there is a minimum lift requirement for these lifts that our players should be aiming for to raise their bat speed.
Thesis Statement: We believe there will be enough of a correlation between bat speed and these lifts that we should have our hitter specifically try to squat, deadlift, and bench-specific weights to achieve an overall bat speed of 79.5 mph.
*Correlation will be measured in R-value
Bat Speed vs Front-Squat:
Our average bat speed as a team vs live pitching was 63.9 mph, and our average 2 rep max front-squat from the pins as a team was 224.6 lbs. The coefficient of variation for both bat speed and front-squat were well under 1. This rate helps quantify standard deviation with our data points within a given set. We found through our study the R-value for bat speed vs front-squat to be 0.529. This not being an exceptionally high R-value, does give us as a coaching staff an idea as to how specific the correlation is for our guys and those in the future between bat speed and front-squat. We then created a graph with a line of best fit, to allow us to give projections. The equation we pulled and used to give a projection for bat speed vs front-squat was f(x)=3.44x+5.23. Then subbing in 79.5 mph bat speed in for x we get that to achieve an average bat speed of 79.5 mph one must front-squat from the pins at a two rep max of 278.71 lbs.
Bat Speed vs Deadlift:
Our average bat speed as a team vs live pitching was 63.9 mph, and our average 2 rep max deadlift as a team was 325 lbs. The coefficient of variation for both bat speed and front-squat were well under 1. This rate helps quantify standard deviation with our data points within a given set. We found through our study the R-value for bat speed vs deadlift to be 0.589. This not being an exceptionally high R-value, does give us as a coaching staff an idea as to how specific the correlation is for our guys and those in the future between bat speed and deadlift. We then created a graph with a line of best fit, to allow us to give projections. The equation we pulled and used to give a projection for bat speed vs deadlift was f(x)=6.11x-65.7. Then subbing in 79.5 mph bat speed in for x we get that to achieve an average bat speed of 79.5 mph one must deadlift two rep max of 420.05 lbs.
Bat Speed vs Bench:
Our average bat speed as a team vs live pitching was 63.9 mph, and our average 2 rep max bench from the pins as a team was 189.9 lbs. The coefficient of variation for both bat speed and front-squat were well under 1. This rate helps quantify standard deviation with our data points within a given set. We found through our study the R-value for bat speed vs bench to be 0.462. This not being an exceptionally high R-value, does give us as a coaching staff an idea as to how specific the correlation is for our guys and those in the future between bat speed and bench. We then created a graph with a line of best fit, to allow us to give projections. The equation we pulled and used to give a projection for bat speed vs bench was f(x)=2.04x+57.2. Then subbing in 79.5 mph bat speed in for x and we get that to achieve an average bat speed of 79.5 mph one must bench two rep max of 219.38 lbs from the pins.
Conclusion:
All of the following have a high enough correlation for us to believe lifting x amount will result in the ability to achieve a bat speed of at least 79.5 MPH. According to our numbers to reach a bat speed of 79.5 MPH one must:
Front squat from the pins- 278.71 lbs
Straight bar Deadlift- 420.05 lbs
Bench from the pins- 219.38 lbs
Lifting these numbers will not immediately produce a swing with a bat speed of 79.5 mph, mostly because none of these lifts are in direct correlation with bat speed. Also, if the athlete has an in-efficient movement leading to a loss of energy in the system, it could lower bat speed. However, these numbers tell us that if players have poor exit velocity and their bat speed is under 79.5 mph, we can look at these lifts. If they CAN hit all the numbers in all these lifts, then we know it is a matter of movement in the swing. If the player can’t get any of these lifts, then we know we can at least improve the strength of the individual in these lifts to give them a greater chance at raising their bat speed to also raise the chance of getting a higher exit velocity and raise the chance of a “barreled ball.”
