Mobility Screen

Chase is categorized as a “neutral” mover.  He sets up in a neutral spine position in his athletic stance.  In his pelvic tilt screen he was unable to create anterior tilt.  This suggest there is some weakness in his lower back.  We typically suggest “supermans” to assist with this.  In his pelvic disassociation screen he was limited but showed improvement with assistance (we held his shoulders).  This suggests rotary torso instability.  We suggest anti-rotational work for this.  It was also noted that he was swaying his hips side to side as opposed to rotating.  He passed his torso disassociation screen.  He passed his overhead squat screen.  He was limited in his toe touch bilaterally and also showed limitations unilaterally with his left leg coming up 3 inches short and his right leg coming up 1 inch short.

Chase created 75 degrees of thoracic rotation to the right and 70 degrees of thoracic rotation to the left. He created 35 degrees of thoracic side bend to the right and 35 degrees of thoracic side bend to the left.  Chase was able to pull his elbows rearward 3 inches in his scapular retraction screen.  We did note in his scapular palpation screen that we could get 4 fingers under each scapula.  This tells us there is scapular positioning or weakness issue.  The bigger thoracic rotation and the scapular weakness will likely indicate he will need a bigger loading mechanism and also more time to load. In his lower quarter rotation screen he created 50 degrees of right internal hip rotation and 30 degrees of right external hip rotation. He created 45 degrees of left internal hip rotation and 45 degrees of external hip rotation. 

Chase has adequate range of motion internally and externally in his right and left shoulders. He passed his lat length/shoulder flexion screen and also passed his reach, roll, and lift screen.  Chase also passed all impingement, wrist deviation, wrist flexion/extension, forearm supination/pronation, and cervical screens.

Chase was able to balance for 11 seconds on his right leg in his single leg balance screen (eyes closed).  He was also able to balance for 11 seconds on his left leg.  Chase passed his single leg glute bridge screen on his right and left legs.  It was noted that he did have some core instability in this screen.

Force Plate Swings

Below is video of the swing analysis. I will walk you through this matched up with video.

Chase creates a whole foot pressure load in his rear foot.  We would like to see this be more heel centric.  He creates 99% body weight (433 N) of force vertically in his rear leg.  He looses that force in his advance.  A better heel load should assist here.  He creates 46 N of torque in his rear leg.  In his lead leg he creates 159% of his body weight (697 N) vertically.  That over number isn’t high, but the rate of force production is good.  Horizontally in his lead leg he produces 61% body weight (265 N).  This has a good rate of force development here as well.  His x-axis timing is efficient at around 100%.  This means he is controlling his weight from the back side to the front into landing and firing.

KVEST Sequencing & Rotational Speeds

The 3d readings are on kinematic sequencing and rotational speeds.

Chase presents as on overlapped in sequence swing (pelvis, torso & upper arm reach peak at same point, wrist).  He does show a limited ability to take the slack out of his torso in his advance and launch.  He inwardly rotates his torso -41.27 degrees as he gets into heel strike. He continues to inwardly rotate his torso as he launches his swing (-45.04 degrees).  This shows that he is still trying to take slack out as he launches.  This is typically caused by lack of torso rotary stability and a proper scapular load.  His pelvic speed is low at 738 deg/sec. for his hip size.  There is a slow deceleration pattern in the pelvis as it is waiting for the torso to take the slack out.  This causes a small gain from pelvis to torso.  Torso speed was 876 deg/sec.  The torso had a slow acceleration and deceleration pattern.  Taking the slack out prelaunch and also building more rotary stability should assist.  His upper arm speed was 1197 deg/sec., but as noted peaks at the same time as the torso.  The large inward torso turn in this situation is allowing the arms to accelerate and decelerate quickly but it will come with a slower time to impact.  His wrist speed is 1660 deg/sec. but has a rollover pattern.

Bat Sensor Data

Chase’s bat speeds were 41-48 mph, which is a wide range considering the controlled testing environment.  This is typical for athletes that are over rotating to take the slack out as their timing to committal is varied.  His time to impact is 160-180 milliseconds which is slower than we’d like to see as it will cause early committal to the pitch.  His rotational acceleration is 6-8 G’s which shows some looseness in the turn.  His attack angles are 12-20 degrees which are in a good range.  His vertical bat angles are -25 to -42 degrees.  This is in the range we want to see (-20 to -30 at the top of the strike zone and -30 to -40 at the bottom of the strike zone).

Summary & Recommendations

• Superman’s to strengthen the lower back.

• Anti-rotational work to improve rotary stability.

• Improve overall force production in the weight room (both bilaterally and unilaterally).

• Improved scapular strength and load will assist in his taking the slack out of his torso in his advance.

• Time to impact is an issue but should continue to get better with improved rotary stability and scapular resistance to take the slack out of the torso.