Correlation of throwing velocity to the results of lower body field tests in male college baseball players

Lehman, Graeme (2012) Correlation of throwing velocity to the results of lower body field tests in male college baseball players. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Baseball specific athleticism, potential and performance have been difficult to predict. Muscle strength and power has shown to help increase throwing velocity through resistance training research however themajority of research has focused on the upper body. The present study sought to determine if bilateral or unilateral lower body field testing correlates with throwing velocity and if so to what extent. Throwing velocity scores were correlated to the following tests; medicine ball scoop toss and squat throw, bilateral and unilateral vertical jumps, single and triple broad jumps, hop and stop in both directions, lateral to medial jumps, 10 and 60 yard dash, and both left and right single leg 10 yard hop for speed in 42 college baseball players. It was hypothesized that the concentric strength of the trail leg and the eccentric strength of thelead leg will correlate positively with throwing velocity. A stepwise multiple regression analysis, assessing therelationship between shuffle and stretch throwing velocities and lower body field test results determined that right handed throwing velocity from the stretch position was significantly predicted by lateral to medial jump right (LMJR) and body weight (BW) R² =0.322, whereas lateral to medial jump left (LMJL) R² = 0.688 significantly predicted left stretch throw. Right handed shuffle throw was significantly related to LMLR and Medicine Ball scoop R² =0.338; whereas, LMJL, BW and LMJR significantly contributed to left handed shuffle throw R²=0.950. Overall, this study found that lateral to medial jumps were consistently correlated with highthrowing velocity in each of the throwing techniques, in both left and right handed throwers. This is relevant because it is the first study to our knowledge to correlate throwing velocity with a unilateral jump in thefrontal plane, mimicking the action of the throwing stride.

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