Overall Efficiency Grade: 62.625

Mobility, Flexibility & Stability Screening

David is in the “tight mover” category.  His thoracic mobility was tight at 35 degrees of rotation to the right and left.  He lacks pelvic control in his pelvic tilt isolation which will limit energy transfer into the upper body.  He was limited the pelvic rotation test, which indicates that he will have limited ability to disassociate his upper and lower body very efficiently. Torso disassociation was limited as well.  If he gets better dissociation, he will have the ability to create energy transfer through torque.

David failed the overhead squat test with limited hip mobility.  He has core instability which will affect energy transfer speed up the chain.  This will be a focus if you do the strength plan.

He has a well developed scapular region, which will help create torque through a good upper body anchor.  His scapular retraction was in the “neutral” category. Shoulder flexion was good, as was external rotation.  Internal shoulder rotation was tight on the right arm, which is common on the throwing arm.

Hip rotational mobility was “neutral.”  He was able to turn 45 degrees in the right and left hip internally.  Externally, he was 35 degrees on the right and the left.

His lower body showed limited left and right leg stability, and his glutes stabilized very well during the glute bridge test.

All wrist and cervical screens were a pass.

Force Plate Swings

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

David loads in his whole back foot.  Back leg loading numbers are ideal at 99% of his body weight and he holds that well into his forward advance.  Back leg mechanics are the strength of his swing.

Front leg force was below average and the rate of force production was limited as well. He has 155% of BW in his front leg.  This is a number we want closer to 200%.  He’ll need a more violent interaction with the ground with his front heel, once it plants.  His front leg resisting force on the x axis is 65% BW, which good.  I’d consider him a vertical and horizontal force producer.  This is also a reason he needs to get more unilateral strength in his left leg as it recovers from surgery.

KVEST Sequencing & Rotational Speeds

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

Turn speeds are low on our “Real Speed,” scale but TTI is faster than turn speeds would indicate.  The scap load style allowed for the best sequencing and turn speeds, by far.  Hip turn speed of 400 deg/sec is low on our “Real Speed” scale and is a function of poor front leg stability and interaction with the ground.  He gets average build in hip to core and core to lead arm transfer due to his core instability.  Torso speeds of 630 deg/sec is Average on the Real Speed scale.  Lead arm values get little build at at 840 deg/sec and wrist speeds are below average at 1400 deg/sec.  Kinematic sequences were correct in the scap load style.  The tendency, when out of sequence, was the hands fired too soon.  This is why the scap load style was more affective.  This will improve power.

Bat Sensor Data

Bat speeds were average for age at 57-58mph on a Blast sensor.  Attack angles to the ball were good at 8-10 degrees.  Peak hand speeds were 20 mph which is above average.  Time to impact was good at 170 milliseconds which indicates a tight turn.   Bat plane is excellent.

Summary & Recommendations

• Work on hip disassociation for better torque in swing.

Torso Dissociation from Elite Baseball on Vimeo.

• Work on pelvic tilt for better energy transfer.
• Improve front foot interaction with the ground with a more forceful heel plant.  This will improve overall speed in the swing.

• Improve deceleration rates for faster turn speeds – use the PVC progression for that.

PVC Progression 1 thru 7 Drills from Elite Baseball on Vimeo.