Effects of Various Warm-Up Devices and Rest Period Lengths on Batting Velocity and Acceleration of Intercollegiate Baseball Players

Abstract

It is common among competitive baseball players to swing bats while in the batter's box in an attempt to improve their batting performance. Players use bats of different weights during this time, and only a few studies have evaluated the optimal bat weight to increase performance. Previous studies have not investigated the optimal rest period after a warm-up with bats of varying weights. Therefore, we tested the peak bat velocity of 16 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division II intercollegiate baseball players at 1, 2, 4, and 8 minutes, after warming up with bats of 5 different weights. Measured variables were peak bat velocity at peak acceleration (PVPA), peak bat velocity of the swing (PV), peak bat acceleration (PA), and time to reach peak acceleration (TPA) using a chronograph, which measured the batting velocity in real time every 10 milliseconds throughout the swing. A repeated measure analysis of variance was run to assess group, time, and group by time interactions. If any main effects were found, a Tukey post hoc was employed to locate differences. There were significant (p ≤ 0.05) time effects for PVPA, PV, and PA but not for TPA. The PVPA, PV, and PA all increased over time, peaking from 4 to 8 minutes. There were no significant differences in any of the variables among the 5 bat weights used in the warm-up (p > 0.05). However, there were significant differences in PVPA, PV, and PA after 2, 4, and 8 minutes of rest compared with the preexperimental warm-up and 1-minute post-warm-up. From a practical standpoint, batters should warm up early and quickly in the batter's box to maximize the amount of recovery time before they swing at the plate. In addition, batters may want to take their time getting ready at the plate or take some pitches while at-bat in an attempt to maximize performance. Alternatively, the data imply that pitchers should throw their fastest pitch near the beginning of the at-bat to correspond with the potentially slower bat speeds of the batter.

Effect of a High-Intensity Isometric Potentiating Warm-up on Bat Velocity

“…Given the total amount of time, batters would step up to plate within the possible optimal time zone (∼6 minutes). As previously reported in a study on various warm-up devices (31), the bat velocity enhancement in the current study falls within the time window (4–12 minutes) of when the greatest effect would be elicited if the stimulus is applied in the on-deck period.…”

The Effect of Different Warm-up Procedures on Bat Speed in Baseball

“…Incidentally, the first trial of this study belonged to 2 min after a warm-up and the subsequent trials (3rd, 4th, and 5th trials) occurred after 3-to 4-min. This suppressed bat speed result was accorded with a recent study of Wilson et al (2012). They showed increased peak bat speed significantly 4 minutes to 8 minutes after five differently-weighted bat warm-ups compared at 1 minute, 2 minutes, 4 minutes, and 8 minutes after warm-ups.…”

“…In addition, a transient effect of bat speed immediately after weighted warm-up were detected only at Otsuji et al (2002) and a recent study of Wilson et al (2012). This transient deterioration and improvement of performance decent time after warm-up trials or acute conditionings has been interpreted as the evidence of post-activation potentiation ([PAP]; Sale, 2002Sale, , 2004Robbins, 2005).…”

The Acute Effects From the Use of Weighted Implements on Skill Enhancement in Sport: A Systematic Review

“…The study of Wilson et al (53) exhibited similar findings to that of Williams et al (52) among 16 NCAA Division II baseball players. Wilson et al used a SwingProPlus chronograph (Athnetix, Inc., Arcade, New York, NY) to record various measures of bat velocity and acceleration.…”

“…Based on their findings, Van Huss et al (50) suggested the use of overweighted implements increases motor unit activation, with Morimoto et al (30) suggesting the use of underweighted implements results in enhanced neuromuscular activity. Wilson et al (53) suggested that Banister Fitness Fatigue Model may sufficiently explain their findings as the greatest increases in batting performance were observed between 4 and 8 minutes. This model proposes that performance is a balance between fitness and fatigue, whereby changes to the former outlast those of the latter following recent contractile activity (23).…”