Mobility Screen

Nolan is categorized as a “neutral” mover.  He sets up in an “S” posture spine position in his athletic stance.  In his pelvic tilt screen he was able to create anterior and posterior tilt, but he did show vibration in the screen.  This suggest there is a weakness in the lower abdominals or lower back.  He passed his pelvic disassociation screen.  The passed his torso disassociation screen.  He passed his overhead squat screen and his toe touch screen.

Nick created 70 degrees of thoracic rotation to the right and 65 degrees of thoracic rotation to the left.  He creates 30 degrees of thoracic side bend to the right and 30 degrees of thoracic side bend to the left.  He was able to pull his elbows rearward 3 inches in his scapular retraction screen.  In his lower quarter rotation screen he created 60 degrees on right internal hip rotation and 65 degrees of right external hip rotation.  He created 55 degrees of left internal hip rotation and 70 degrees of left external hip rotation. 

Nick has adequate range of motion internally and externally in his left shoulder.  He has adequate external shoulder rotation in his right shoulder but has a slight deficit in his internal right shoulder rotation.  He did show less external rotation in both shoulders from an athletic stance set up.  This should be monitored as it may cause a steeper entry into the hitting zone. 

We were unable to get 4 fingers under his scapulas in the scapular palpation screen which indicates good scapular strength/positioning.  He passed his reach, roll, and lift screen showing good scapular strength while in the upward rotation position.  He was limited in his lat length/shoulder flexion screen as he was only able to raise his hands overhead to just past his nose.  Nick passed all impingement, wrist deviation, wrist flexion/extension, forearm supination/pronation, and cervical screens.

Nick was able to balance on his right leg for 15 seconds in his single leg balance screen (eyes closed).  He was also able to balance for 15 seconds on his left.  In his single leg glute bridge screen he was able to hold his position and showed good core stability.

Force Plate Swings

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

Nolan creates a ball of foot pressure load in his rear foot.  We want to have more of a heel centric load here.  He creates 111% of body weight vertically (1070 N) in his rear leg.  This is indicative of him pushing away from the ground as opposed to holding into it.  He creates 148% body weight (1426 N) of vertical force in his lead leg.  This overall number is low for a neutral stride position and the rate of force development is also low.  He creates 59% body weight (567 N) in horizontal force in the lead leg.  This is also low and has a low rate of force development.  His x-axis timing is about 25% which tells us he’s leaving the backside early and taking longer to accept on the front side.

KVEST Sequencing & Rotational Speeds

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

Nick presents as an out of sequence swing (pelvis upper arm, torso, wrist).  He sets up well in his advance from an inward rotational stand point.  He appears to take out most of the slack in his advance, but does show as a poor scapular load.  His pelvic speed was good for his hip size at 678 deg/sec. It did show a slow acceleration and deceleration pattern.  This can be monitored in the lower half, as he has a fairly big internal and external hip mobility profile.  The torso speed is 760 deg/sec., which is a fairly small gain as it is not able to take speed efficiently from the slow deceleration pattern of the pelvis.  The torso also shows a slow acceleration pattern.  The upper arm is moving at 880 deg/sec., again a small gain over the torso and likely indicative of a poor scapular load and poor deceleration patterns.  Anti-rotational and med ball throws should help assist with those patterns.  The wrist speed is 2058 deg/sec, which is fast.

Bat Sensor Data

Nolan’s bat speed was 62-68 mph.  His time to impact is 160-170 milliseconds, which is slightly above average.  This speed will decrease as he uses a better scapular load and works to improve acceleration and deceleration patterns. His rotational acceleration is 5-6 G’s which tells us there is some looseness in the turn.  His attack angles are 6-15 degrees which are in a good range.  His vertical bat angles are -30 to -39 degrees which are also in a good range.  We loot for -20 to -30 at the top of the strike zone and -30 to -40 in the bottom of the zone.

Summary & Recommendations

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

• Improve overall force production and rate of force production in the weight room (bilaterally and unilaterally).  We also like to do rotational medicine ball throws for this.

• Better speed gains and improved time to impact by utilizing a better scapular resistance throughout the turn. 

• He did pass his pelvic disassociation but portrays as a hip slide in his swing.  Feet down swings will assist in creating the feel of the pelvis rotating at center versus sliding into the front side.