Mobility Screen

Noah is classified as a “loose” mover.  He sets up in an “S” posture in his athletic position.  In his pelvic tilt screen he was not able to create posterior tilt.  There was also vibration in the screen which shows there is weakness/lack of control in your lower abdominals/lower back.  Noah passed both his pelvic and torso disassociation screens.  He failed his overhead squat and his hands behind the neck squat.  In his subsequent ankle dorsiflexion screen he was limited in both ankles.  The right ankle was 1 inch short and the left ankle was 2 inches short.  Noah did pass the toe touch screen.

Noah created 80 degrees of thoracic rotation to the right and 80 degrees thoracic rotation to the left.  This is important to know because he will require good scapular load against his pelvis to take out the slack in his torso.  It also means he’s likely to be a big loading mechanism guy.  His thoracic side bend was also high at 50 degrees side bend to the right and 50 degrees side bend to the left.  Noah created 2.5 inches of retraction in his scapular retraction screen.  We were not able to get 4 fingers under his scapula in the scapular palpation screen.  In his lower quarter rotation screen he created 60 degrees of right internal hip rotation and 65 degrees of right external hip rotation.  He also had 50 degrees of left internal hip rotation and 70 degrees of left external hip rotation. 

Noah created adequate shoulder external rotation in both shoulders in a standing position but less range of external motion in an athletic position.  This should be monitored because sit may force a steeper entry into the hitting zone.  Noah had good internal rotation in his right shoulder but was limited in his left internal shoulder rotation.  He passed his reach, roll, and lift on his right arm but was limited in his left arm.  Limitation tells us that he is lacking scapular strength or shoulder flexion in his left side while in an upwardly rotated position.  He also was limited in his independent lat length/shoulder flexion screen as he was only able to raise his arms overhead to just in front of his nose.  Noah passed all impingement, wrist deviation, wrist flexion/extension, forearm supination/pronation, and cervical screens. 

Noah was able to balance for 15 seconds in his single leg balance screen (eyes closed) on his right leg.  He was limited in his left leg as he was only able to balance for 4 seconds.  Noah passed his single leg glute bridge screen in both legs, but it was noted that he had some core instability.

Force Plate Swings

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

Noah creates pressure in his toes in his rear foot load.  We would like to see this be a heel load.  He creates 95% body weight vertically in his rear leg.  This number will increase to closer to 100% as he creates a heel load.  He creates 25 N of rear leg torque in his advance.  Noah creates 133% body weight (231 lb/f) of vertical force in his lead leg.  This is a small number even for a wider stance hitter.  His rate of force production is below average here as well.  His horizontal force in the lead leg is 69% body weight but also has a low rate of force production.  His x-axis timing is low because he is catching his body weight in landing before beginning the turn.

KVEST Sequencing & Rotational Speeds

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

Noah presents as an in sequence swing pattern (pelvis, torso, upper arm, wrist).  He does show a big internal rotation into heel strike and launch.  At heel strike he is -22.14 degrees in his pelvis and -46.13 degrees in his torso.  At launch he was -15.94 degrees in his pelvis and -42.01 degrees in his torso.  This suggests a lack of scapular load to take the slack out of his torso.  His pelvic speed was 608 degrees which was lower than we’d like to see for his hip size.  There was a slow acceleration and deceleration pattern in his graph.  The deceleration phase will cause a slower transfer from the pelvis to the torso.  The torso speed was 873 deg/sec.  There is little transfer from the torso to the upper arm as there is an absence of an adequate scapular load/resistance.  The lack of taking out the slack in the torso only allowed the upper arm to reach 903 deg/sec.  The wrist speed is 1660 deg/sec.  There is the presence of a rollover through contact in his graph.

Bat Sensor Data

Noah’s bat speeds were 58-62 mph.  His time to impact was slow at 170-180 milliseconds.  This needs to be improved as it will force him to make swing choices earlier.  This time will decrease as he can take the slack out of his torso with a proper scapular load.  His rotational acceleration is 3-5 G’s which means he’s got some looseness in his turn.  His attack angles were 13-21 degrees which are good to slightly too high based off incoming pitch flight.  His vertical bat angles are -13 to -29 degrees which are good to slightly low.  We want to see -20 to -30 degrees in the top of the strike zone and -30 to -40 in the bottom of the zone.

Summary & Recommendations

• Dead bug progression to increase lower abdominal strength and pelvic control. 

• As a big thoracic capability guy he will need to have a bigger move and better scapular load to take the slack out of his torso in his advance. 

• Utilize the weight room to create better overall force production and rate of force production (both bilaterally and unilaterally).  We also like to utilize medicine ball throws for this.

• Time to impact is a concern that should get better as he utilizes a scapular load verus an overly inward torso rotation to take out the slack.

• Monitor attack angles and vertical bat angles to ensure he maintains the ability to catch balls through a wider part of the zone.