Mobility Screen

Tommy is categorized as a “loose” thoracic mover and “tight” hip mover.  He sets up in a neutral spine position in his athletic stance.  In his pelvic tilt screen he was able to create anterior and posterior tilt, but he did show some vibration in his screen.  This is an indication that there is some lower abdominal strength or pelvic control issues present.  He was limited in his pelvic disassociation screen but showed improvement with assistance (we held his shoulders). This indicates a rotary stability issue.  He passed his torso disassociation screen.  He was limited in his overhead squat screen but did pass his hands behind the neck squat screen.  This shows there may be some thoracic extension limitation.  He passed his toe touch screen.

Tommy created 85 degrees of thoracic rotation to the right and 90 degrees of thoracic rotation to the left.  His thoracic side bend screen showed 50 degrees of tilt to the left and 50 degrees of tilt to the right.  In his scapular retraction screen he was able to pull his elbows rearward 2 inches.  In his scapular palpation screen we were able to get 4 fingers under his scapulas.  This is an indication of a poorly positioned scapula and weakness around the scapula.  It was noted in his screen that his scapula was winged.  A large range of thoracic rotation and scapular weakness is an indication that more time and a larger loading mechanism will be needed to take out the slack in the torso as he advances.  In his lower quarter rotation screen he created 35 degrees of right internal hip rotation and 45 degrees of right external hip rotation.  He created 35 degrees of left internal hip rotation and 40 degrees of left external hip rotation.

Tommy creates an adequate range of motion internally and externally in both his right and left shoulders.  He passed his lat length/shoulder flexion screen by raising his arms overhead to touch the wall.  He was limited in his reach, roll, and lift screen on his left side as he was able to raise his hand off the ground but not keep it there.  This shows some weakness in the scapula while in the upward rotated position.  He passed the screen on his right side.  Tommy passed all impingement, wrist deviation, wrist flexion/extension, forearm supination/pronation, and cervical screens.

Tommy was able to balance on his right leg for 15 seconds in his single leg balance screen (eyes closed).  He was able to balance for 9 seconds on his left leg.  Tommy showed left and right leg weakness respectively in his single leg glute bridge screen.  It was also noted that he had core instability as his hips were tilting and core had vibration.

Force Plate Swings

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

Tommy creates a ball of foot pressure load.  We want to see a more heel centric load.  He creates 106% body weight (541 N) of vertical force in his rear leg.  This high of a spike indicates he is pushing out of the ground in his advance as opposed to holding into the ground.  His graph shows the number immediately declining in his advance.  He creates little torque in his rear leg at 29 N.  This can be improved with a better heel load and a counter turn of his hips.  In his lead leg he creates 183% body weight (933 N) in vertical force.  The overall number and rate of force production are good here.  In his lead leg he also produces 83% body weight (423 N) in the horizontal vector.  This is also a good overall force and rate of force.  His x-axis timing is 50% due to the fact he is pushing out of the ground on the rear side.

KVEST Sequencing & Rotational Speeds

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

Tommy presents as an out of sequence swing pattern (pelvis, upper arm, torso, wrist).  He is still taking slack of his torso as he is going into his launch.  His torso is inwardly rotated at -25.84 degrees at heel strike and continues turning in to -27.28 at first move.  This is likely due to his rotary strength and his large range of motion in his thoracic rotation.  His pelvic speed is 789 deg/sec., which is a good speed for his hip size.  His pelvis shows good deceleration patterns.  His torso speed is 934 deg/sec., which is a small jump over his pelvic speed.  This is a rotary stability issue.  His upper arm speed is lower than his torso speed at 919 deg/sec. and peaks before the torso.  This is indicating lack of scapular load and resistance in the turn.  The arms are out racing the body.  The wrist speed is 1634 deg/sec.

Bat Sensor Data

Tommy’s bat speeds are 45-48 mph, which are on the low side and due to the lack of transfer gains between segments.  His time to impact is slow at 180-210 milliseconds.  These will make it necessary to commit early and likely force him into a one pitch hitter.  These times should decrease as he gets better rotary and scapular strength.  His rotational acceleration is also low at 2-5 G’s which shows some looseness in the turn. This is typical with athletes that the arms run away from the torso early.  His attack angles are 11-22 degrees which are in a good range.  His vertical bat angles are -32 to -42 degrees which are also good (we look for -20 to -30 at the top of the strike zone and -30 to -40 at the bottom).

Summary & Recommendations

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

• Anti-rotational work to improve rotary stability.

• Scapular strength work (band pulls, reverse flys, etc)

• Create a better heel load in the back foot to create better torque and allow for the ability to hold the ground in the rear shoe in the advance).

• Time to impact is an issue to be addressed and monitored as his rotary and scapular strength improves.