OnBaseU is dedicated to studying how baseball/softball athletes move. Our online courses teach professionals how to assess a player's movement capabilities.
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🗓 Hitting Physical Screen: Tuesday, June 27th
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It’s difficult to do damage when you “drift.” Donaldson’s swing is a great example of how lead knee extension and a firm front side promotes rotational power.
Notice how his pelvis doesn’t move towards the pitcher after his first move (first 3-4 inches of hands moving forward)?
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What causes the deceleration sequence in the kinematic sequence?
Deceleration isn’t the product of consciously slowing a segment down, but “firing” the next segment in the chain.
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A common mistake in using the ground to generate power is thrusting the hips early and the pelvis moving towards the plate. This can cause a hitting characteristic we call No Spacing.
Dr. Rose shares a drill to help hitters visualize their hips at our recent seminar in Orlando:
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The ability to Pelvic Tilt isn’t just a key movement pattern in helping to maintain dynamic posture and avoid loss of space, but also maximize potential bat velocity.
If the pelvis is moving towards the plate, it’s more difficult to “pull back” and accelerate the barrel.
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Nolan Arenado training with @KWAYNE_FITNESS.
Watch how the lead leg helps drive the arms. Firm front side. Gas pedal.
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A “firm front side” is one of the hallmarks of elite hitters.
Players who continue to Drift towards the pitchers after their First Move (first 3-4” of hands moving forward) reduce their lower body stability and can dramatically reduce power into the upper body.
🎥: castro_bros
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The pelvis rotates first to initiate the swing and create a stretch across the oblique abdominals, but watch how stable the lower body becomes the last few frames before contact.
Sports Biomechanics
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In baseball pitching, we see wrist pronation velocities of 6000° - 7000°/second.
In fastpitch, we’ve measured wrist pronation velocities of up to 11,000°/second (🤯).
Shouldn’t we be assessing 🥎 pitchers to evaluate their capability to create - and tolerate - those speeds?
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A key capability in increasing speed from the trunk to the arms is the ability to create a stretch in the lead shoulder.
This is a really good example.
Notice the distance from hands to nose increases in the forward move? No Dead Hands.
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Watch Nolan Ryan’s pelvis as he lifts his stride leg.
Like most elite pitchers, his pelvis has moved closer to the plate by maximum leg lift.
If not, they have a characteristic we call Hanging Back.
Not only key for generating velo, but also deception.
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Jimmy G working on initiating rotation with his hips and creating separation between upper body and lower body.
No surprise to see this. Jimmy works with OnBaseU advisory board member Tom House.
Jennifer Lee Chan -all platforms: @jenniferleechan
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Watch Yelich’s jersey stretch here.
His ability to move his hips independent of his torso is key for loading his core and creating an efficient sequence.
Athletes who cannot disassociate upper/lower body often swing their body more as one unit.
🎥: elitediamondperformance, IG
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Slow a baseball swing down and the pelvic tilt becomes pretty apparent. Watch Vlad Jr’s belt buckle after heel plant for reference (mini-thread).
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Batters who don’t transfer weight to their lead side leave power on the table.
Watch Edgar’s back foot move towards the pitcher here. Not only does he transfer his weight, but the rotation of the hips actually pulls the back foot off the ground.
(Original GIF via @HyattCraig)
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This angle offers a terrific perspective of hip shoulder separation in pitching.
The ability to move the lower body independently of the upper body is such an important skill for rotational athletes.
🎥: @TreadAthletics
Sports Biomechanics
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THREAD: Watch how Bregman’s hips stays behind the vertical line through contact.
A hitter needs to create and maintain room for his arms to swing down the line of the pitch.
If the pelvis moves towards the plate it reduces room for the back elbow. We refer to this as No Space
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Easy power from Austin Riley
☑️ Weight shift
☑️ Firm lead side helps convert linear move to rotational speed
☑️ Pelvis rotates first creating hip shoulder separation and stretch across core
☑️ Live and independent hands during forward move to create stretch in lead shoulder
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Casting the Hands isn’t just a killer of power, but can make it more difficult for a hitter to adjust to the speed and location of a pitch.
We often find that improving a hitter’s lower body (e.g. sequence and strength) can help address casting.
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The ability to move the lower body independently of the upper body is critical for being able to create separation and load the core.
This is something we often highlight in elite rotational athletes, such as Mitch Garver here (🎥: elitediamondperformance, IG).
(1/2)
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Casting the Hands isn’t just a killer of power, but can make it more difficult for a hitter to adjust to the speed and location of a pitch.
Can be associated with limited mobility in wrist, front shoulder or back scap, in addition to an inability to disassociate upper/lower body
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Notice the distance between hands and nose increasing during the positive move in these clips posted by @TheHittingVault? A good indication that the hitter has created a stretch reflex which will contribute to overall arm power.
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The Toe Tap Test is one of the ways we evaluate hip mobility in the OnBaseU screen. It measures hip/tibial internal rotation, a common limitation in hitters.
By assessing mvmt, you can ensure your instruction suits their physical capabilities.
Full 🎥: onbaseu.com/articles/Coachin…
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The most efficient rotational athletes are able to transfer weight and pressure without excessive lateral movement of the lower body. Shift, don’t drift.
🎥: gravitybaseball, IG
Sports Biomechanics
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Pitchers who "Early Extend" (hips go into extension too early) often complain of stepping closed or having poor alignment off the mound.
Leg strength, spine disassociation, hip mobility/stability, ankle mobility all critical to avoid it.
Listen to Glasnow here via @robbyrow12
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A characteristic of the best hitters is the ability to rotate the lower body independently of the upper body to efficiently generate power.
Pull back the rubber band (create separation of pelvis/torso) to let it go (close separation near contact).
🎥: bbsportstraining, IG
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Watch the lead leg. It's a gas pedal.
You can't create elite bat speed with a soft front side.
Shift, don't drift.
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Good example of how the “No Space” hitting characteristic can occur on the left.
No Space is one of the rare characteristics among elite hitters. Creates issues with speed and consistency.
Will post a No Space thread below.
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The amount of lead knee flexion at heel plant might vary among hitters, but the most powerful hitters in baseball won’t INCREASE flexion after heel plant.
Notice how Trout’s lead leg extension keeps his pelvis from moving towards the pitcher after his first move.
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The ability to move the lower body independent of the upper body is one of the key physical prerequisites of an efficient sequence.
Stretch the rubber band to let it go.
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The ability to move the lower body independently of the upper body not only helps a hitter sequence efficiently, but maintain dynamic posture and avoid allowing the pelvis to move towards the plate.
Sports Biomechanics
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An elite lower body move from Trout.
Transfers weight/pressure to a firm front side. Shifting, not drifting.
IR in lead hip/lower quarter.
Very clear posterior pelvic tilt.
🎥: @SweetSpotHittng
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Hip and core stability are important physical capabilities for any rotational athlete.
These Tall to Half Kneeling Step Outs with Rotation by @B_Squared19 with @FastBaseballDev are much more demanding than they might appear. Many athletes will struggle to avoid lateral mvmt.
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The primary reason we want rotational athletes to create hip to shoulder separation is so they can get rid of it.
Here’s Dr. Rose during our Hitting Certification webinar last week.
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THREAD: Watch where this video pauses (~0:05 mark) highlighting the separation of the hitter’s torso and pelvis.
Elite hitters that we’ve assessed generally get between 25° - 35° separation of upper and lower body.
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Carlos Correa and Jocelyn Alo talking the importance of hip-shoulder separation, including favorite movement preps to improve it.
Both work with an OnBaseU Certified: @jtgasso and @cesar_longoria
🎥: @RawlingsSports, @RawlingsSB, h/t capahitting, IG
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Watch a pitcher’s pelvis as they lift their stride leg.
Most elite pitchers will have moved closer to the plate by maximum leg lift.
If not, they have a characteristic we call Hanging Back.
This can affect their ability to max deception/velocity.
OnBaseU
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The ability to create separation between the pelvis and torso is a hallmark of elite rotational athletes.
Elite hitters that we’ve assessed generally have between 25° - 35° separation around foot plant.
A beautiful sequence from Anthony Volpe
🎥: chadjacobhitting
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The ability to create live and independent hands helps generate a stretch reflex and increase arm power in the swing.
If the distance between your hands and nose doesn’t increase from the end of your negative move to toe touch, you have a swing characteristic called Dead Hands.
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Watch Yelich load and unload with his back hip then keep his pelvis away from the plate (create space for his arms) as he moves to toe touch.
Don’t assume that your athlete can move their hips like an elite hitter. Assess, don’t guess.
🎥: elitediamondperformance
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Watch how Freeman uses his lower body to help generate power.
We typically see a 1 - 2.5” lift of the center of the pelvis between heel plant and contact. Freeman is likely at the high-end of that.
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The ability to create separation between the pelvis and torso is one of the hallmarks of efficient rotational athletes.
Stretch the rubber band (create the gap) so that you can let it go (close the gap).
Beautifully demonstrated by Jocelyn Alo. Elite.
Sports Biomechanics
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Two questions we ask of BOTH our pitchers and hitters?
Are you able to rotate?
How’s your core control?
Here are 5 screens - demonstrated in under 1 minute - that should help provide the answer.
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Stork Turns are one of the corrective exercises we like to program for athletes who have difficulty with the Pelvic Rotation Test (unable to move the pelvis independently of the torso).
Easy to incorporate in an athlete’s warm up or in downtime during practice or training.
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Don’t “Lose Space.”
Watch how the pelvis stays against the line through contact. A hitter needs to create/maintain room for the arms.
If the pelvis moves towards the plate it reduces room for the back elbow. We refer to this as No Space
🎥: @flowsdoc
Dr. Ismael Gallo DPT, MBA
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THREAD: The ability to rotate the lower body without “Drifting” is critical for maximizing power potential (🎥: @fullerhitting).
As with every hitting or pitching characteristic, the issue can be technical, but is often rooted in a physical limitation.
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2) His ability to load segments of his body helps him create powerful stretch-shorten cycles.
His pelvis rotates first, creating a stretch across his oblique abdominals (“x-factor”).
The distance between his hands & nose grows in the positive move, loading the front shoulder.
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Pitchers with the “Collapsing Front Knee” characteristic forfeit potential velocity.
If a pitcher allows their lead knee to increase flexion after foot plant they aren’t able to push against the ground effectively and lose one of the most potent accelerators available to them.
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A great example of hitting with a firm front side.
At the end of the first move (first 3-4 inches of hands moving forward), the pelvis doesn't move closer to the pitcher.
Using the ground for power.
🎥: bbsportstraining, IG
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A kinematic sequence doesn’t evaluate an athlete’s ability to hit or pitch successfully, it evaluates their ability to generate power efficiently.
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ESPN Sports Science looking at Josh Donaldson’s “x-factor” back in 2015. In order to be able to create separation from the upper body & lower body, an athlete must be able to move their pelvis independently of their torso.
Limitations may be related to poor mobility OR stability
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Mookie is a great example of how elite hitters are able to create and maintain space with their pelvis and trunk so that their arms can swing down the line of the pitch.
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The ability to create live & independent hands helps generate a stretch reflex and increase arm power in the swing.
If the distance between a hitter’s hands and nose doesn’t increase from the end of negative move to toe touch, they have a swing characteristic we call Dead Hands
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⭐️ @texasbaseball commit @travissykora1
His physical tools and velo (101 mph 🤯) are almost as impressive as how he approaches his craft.
Works w/ a terrific team (@TXBaseballRanch and @DST_Houston) which is reflected in how intelligently he speaks about his training/mechanics.
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Comparing a mechanism of energy transfer from the lower body to the upper body in hitting vs pitching.
🎥: BTS at our Pitching Certification Webinar
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Elite hitters not only maintain dynamic posture to adjust to pitch location, but to create/maintain room for their arms to swing down the line of the pitch.
If the pelvis moves towards the plate it reduces room for the back elbow.
🎥: hittingvault, IG
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A powerful medicine ball throw is as much about using the lower body as it is the arms and core.
Watch the lower body (especially the lead leg) of the athlete working with Jared Forestieri here.
Gas pedal.
Sports Biomechanics
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What does ankle mobility have to do with our ability to generate power?
Players who fail our Ankle Rocking Test - specifically, those who have difficulty with eversion - often have a tendency to sway or push from the outside of their foot.
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Mookie has some of the most efficient and exceptional kinematics in baseball.
1) He’s not only efficient (1-2-3-4), he’s absurdly fast.
His rotational speeds - specifically his peak pelvis speed - is one of the fastest we’ve ever seen in a hitter.
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THREAD: We had an MLB hitter in last month who was concerned about his exit velo.
One potential issue was a characteristic we call Dead Hands (not loading shoulder).
It showed up in his kinematic sequence too. You can see that he doesn’t transfer much energy from trunk to hands
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A “firm front side” is one of the hallmarks of elite hitters.
Players who continue to Slide or Drift towards the pitchers after their First Move reduce their lower body stability and can dramatically reduce power into the upper body.
🎥: mckenney_baseball, IG
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We don’t care about your swing style, we care about your swing efficiency.
Our philosophy is that there are infinite ways to hit a ball, but the most efficient swing for you is based on what your body can do. onbaseu.com/about
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This is elite. A great example from @ZachDechant of how a pattern can be loaded and progressed.
Here’s a quick thread with some examples of how you can REGRESS this movement pattern to help an athlete eventually get here.
Pelvic rotation IS the sport. Once we lay the foundation with stabilization and grooving movement patterns...we advance by trying to hold the patterns with load.
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Pitchers with the “Collapsing Front Knee” characteristic forfeit potential velocity.
If a pitcher allows their pelvis to drop after foot plant they aren’t pushing against the ground effectively and lose one of the most potent accelerators available to them.
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NEW POST: Assessing a hitter's hip mobility is critical for teaching technique that matches their physical capabilities. onbaseu.com/articles/Coachin…
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The ability for a hitter to create and maintain room for their arms is not only critical for promoting consistent quality of contact, but also maximizing bat velocity.
If the pelvis is moving towards the plate (“Losing Space”), it’s more difficult to accelerate the barrel
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“This is the sequence of the most efficient hitters in the world. We’ve filmed a bunch of them. This isn’t guessing...”
- Dr. Greg Rose at our On Base U seminar this week
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Thread: Lead Shoulder Load
A key capability in increasing speed from the trunk to the arms is the ability to create a stretch in the lead shoulder.
Notice the distance from hands to nose increases in the fwd move? No Dead Hands
(via JaredBickleDPT, IG)
Sports Biomechanics
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Hitters have three primary mechanisms to get their bat on plane:
- Wrists
- Shoulder
- Posture
Understanding how a hitter gets on plane in relation to how they are physically capable of moving can provide insight into the cause of various hitting characteristics.
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“How do I improve a player’s sequence” is one of the most common q’s we hear. Hitters who don’t sequence efficiently (e.g. gate swing) often can’t disassociate their spine or have poor hip/core stability. Others don’t understand the pattern/technique. Here’s a good drill for them
Straight arm med ball toss can assist with a number of issues to clean up sequencing. Extending the elbows and holding your arms out in front can engage the core and help the hitter learn to create power from the ground up. Can help repattern an arm dominant swing.
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✅ Disassociation
The ability to move the upper body independently of the lower body is a superpower of elite rotational athletes.
Sports Biomechanics
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Blocked Practice v Random Practice:
Blocked practice can be a bit like solving the same math problem over and over again.
You get really good at answering that individual problem, but are you actually getting any better at math?
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“I started @DrivelineBB by publishing my ideas on a blog and getting yelled at online... which in baseball is what we call peer review.”
- @drivelinebases at #WGFS2018
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“There’s nothing better than live pitching if you want to learn as a hitter.”
- Dr. Greg Rose
#BlockedvsRandom
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Creating speed isn’t just about how well an athlete can accelerate, but how well they decelerate.
We want to volcanoes, not mounds.
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👀
The @dodgers sharing how they incorporate OnBaseU screens in athlete assessments at their Sports Science Symposium this weekend.
🎥: hailstatestrength, IG
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If a pitcher allows their pelvis to sink toward the ground after foot plant, they are forfeiting velocity.
Though it can always be strictly a technical issue, it is common in pitchers who lack hip internal rotation, lower body stability or ankle mobility.
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“The best coaches in the room talk the least, but when they talk it matters. Set up and shut up.”
- Dr. Greg Rose
Bad coaches talk too much and too loudly. Yelling and talking more than actually teaching.
Great coaches have the ability to communicate something complex and make it simple in less words and lower volumes so that the athletes can understand and apply it.
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❌ Losing Space:
Watch how Mookie’s hips stay behind the vertical line from toe touch ➡️ contact.
A hitter needs to create/maintain room for their arms to swing down the line of the pitch.
If the pelvis moves towards the plate it reduces room for the back elbow.
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Mookie has some of the most impressive kinematics we’ve seen.
Not only is he efficient (1-2-3-4), his rotational velocities are among the fastest in baseball.
Disassociates his lower body and upper body while maintaining dynamic posture. Elite core control
🎥: propelhitting, IG
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Athletes who lack core control - failing our Pelvic Tilt Test, in this case - often have difficulty transferring energy from the lower body to the torso.
It’s a simple limitation to identify and represents one of the key movement patterns found in elite rotary athletes.
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Velocity isn’t just a product of how much an athlete can move, but how well an athlete can move.
🗣: @TreadAthletics
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Great look at Acuña’s live and independent hands (via @ColbyMayHitting).
A key capability in increasing speed from the trunk to arms is creating a stretch in the lead shoulder.
Notice the distance from hands to nose increases in the forward move?
Sports Biomechanics
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Shift, don’t Drift.
A firm front side is critical for rotational power.
We draw a vertical line in front of the pelvis after the First Move.
If the pelvis moves in front of the line, the hitter is Drifting.
Austin Riley talking about how he works on posture, and using the ground to generate force and direction and cleaning up his swing. @austinriley1308
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Pitching characteristics like Sway or Hanging Back don’t just effect velocity, but timing.
Dom Johnson explains at our Pitching Level 2 and shares his favorite drills to correct.
🎥 Dr Sean Drake
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The weight of a bat doesn’t matter as much as how the weight is distributed.
@mybpl3 and @MarucciSports are changing how hitters select the best bat for optimizing performance.
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The ability to transfer power from the lower body to the arms is a hallmark of elite rotational athletes.
Goldy showcasing that skill in these med ball tosses while training with @KWAYNE_FITNESS.
Firm front side. Lead leg is a gas pedal.
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If we walked into a room full of baseball players could only perform one screen to distinguish hitters and pitchers, this would probably be the one we’d choose.
If a pitcher can’t pass this screen, it’s a pretty big red flag.
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