Mobility, Flexibility & Stability Screening

Overall Lilly is a “neutral” mover that is loose in the upper body and tight in the hips. Novak’s thoracic mobility is at 60 degrees on her right side, and 75 degrees on her left side. This would put her in the “loose” category here. She failed the pelvic rotation test, which indicates an inability to disassociate her lower body from her upper body. This improved with assistance, which shows a lack of stability in her upper body. Both of these issues will limit her torque in the swing, which we saw from the 3d readings. Slight vibration in her pelvic tilt test shows lack of strength in lower back and abdomen. Failure of this test limits speed of energy transfer from the legs to the core.

Failed the overhead squat test, which indicates limited thoracic flexion and extension. She was able to pass the squat test with her arms behind her head, which indicates adequate hip mobility. Her ankle mobility was lacking on both legs, which could be improved with some minor band work and stretching.

Her scapular development was good, and her scapular retraction was 4.5” on both arms, which would put her in the “neutral” category. Her external rotation of her left shoulder was limited, as was the internal rotation of her right shoulder. During her reach, roll, and lift test, there was shaking throughout, which indicates scapular instability and lack of strength in the scapular region.

Hip mobility during the lower quarter rotation test was low, showing 45 degrees internally and externally on her left hip, and 30 degrees internally on her right hip, and 40 degrees externally on her right hip. This would classify her as a “tight” mover in her lower half. A smaller lower body coil would be beneficial.

Her lower body showed good stability during the glute bridge test, however her right leg showed lack of balance during the single leg balance test. Coupled with her limited hip mobility, she would be a perfect candidate for a small lower body loading mechanism.

All wrist and cervical screens were a pass.

Force Plate Jumps

Showed a bias towards her left leg (10%) during the counter movement jump, but a balance in her legs during her squat jump. Her numbers during her CMJ indicate she may be at a higher risk of injury in her hamstrings. Her squat jump rate of force production was 135% and her counter movement jump was 119%. This shows that her body prefers a longer loading mechanism.

Force Plate Swings

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

Lily has a stride/shift approach that limits most of her lower body production. She’s a toe loader, so right away she gets very little out of her back leg load. As she shifts to center, she has a long dissipation of energy into her front leg. Her front leg loading numbers are 50% of what we are looking for. She topped out in front leg production at 97% BW. Back leg torque number is low at 8 Nm. She has tight hips, so we should be able to get much more out of that. Need to experiment and retest.

Depending on team need, I’d suggest going to some sort of stride to increase production. Lower body and overall speed numbers are limited. If she’s a “put the ball in play” person then we need to tap more into her current style. But more or less, we’re getting a fraction of her overall hitting power potential.

KVEST Sequencing & Rotational Speeds

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

K Vest data showed a one-piece turn where the body was turning lower and upper body at same time. Though hip and torso speeds were average, the energy was not traveling up the chain because of the lack of stretch/torque. Hip speeds were 615-654 deg/sec which graded as 24 on the Real Speed score or “Good.” Torso speeds are 766-953 deg/sec which is “below average.” So you can see how the lack of disassociation limits the speed up the chain. This continued with the lead arm at 975-1104 deg/sec and wrist at 1279-1293 deg/sec which is in the “needs improvement” category. TTI was .230 to .265 which is slower than average.

Bat Sensor Data

Average barrel speed was 59.2 MPH, and peaked at 61 MPH, which is average. Her hand speed peaked at 21, with an average of 20, which is average. Her average attack angle was -10.7 degrees, which is very low. Ideal is 5-12 degrees.

Summary & Recommendations

• Figure a style that best fits the need for the team. There is a lot more power potential in her, but as a senior, have to figure the best way to maximize what she has in the time she has left.

• Get into heel in load and also increase production of front leg by “punching” the ground and stabilizing front leg.

• Create some sort of separation between upper body and lower body. Regardless of style, she needs to keep the scap loaded longer as the lower body begins to fire. Part of this issue, is with the stride/shift, the hips begin firing late, which also contributes to the one-piece swing.

Retest 3/26/19

Back leg loading numbers were slightly improved (to 86%), however from leg posting numbers are still very low and has a slow rate of force production. I honestly believe her body is sub-consciously protecting the front leg (ankle, knee or hip) for some reason. That is often the case when the mechanic is correct, yet the rate of force production is very slow.

However, adding the stride DRASTICALY improved her turn speeds. Her angular turn speed line was (in deg/sec):

650         930         1100      1280

Now it is:

720         990         1300      1900

Bat speed numbers are slightly better (3 mph faster) but TTI was reduced greatly. Attack angles are also positive now instead of negative, which is excellent.

Very nice improvements to Lily. Stay the course.