ABCA Research Committee
Title: What the Best in Baseball Do
A longitudinal / cross-sectional biomechanical study of the best hitters and pitchers in the game of baseball.
Purpose:
The purpose of this study is to investigate live swings and pitches of elite major league, college and high school players during 2011 - 2016 seasons using multiple high speed cameras for biomechanical analysis. Video data capturing began during the 2011 Spring Training and will continue with selected regular season games through the 2016 season. Multiple views will be collected for biomechanical analysis using high speed cameras.
Subjects:
Group #1 33 Elite major league hitters and pitchers taken from live major league competition
Group #2: 33 Elite college hitters and pitchers captured from the Pac12 baseball conference
Group #3 33 Elite high school hitters and pitchers captured from National Identification events
Instrumentation:
Ariel Computerized 3- D Motion Analysis System; of multiple high-speed cameras. The Ariel Performance Analysis System (APAS) is the world's most advanced computerized system for biomechanical analysis and the study of human motion.
Presentation:
The results will be provided in the way of a video / PowerPoint® presentation and will be presented at the 2015 (hitting) and the 2017 (pitching) ABCA National Convention by the ABCA research team and Bio-Kinetics Research & Development.
Staff:
The ABCA research committee and Bio-Kinetics Research & Development will work with a team of scientists as well as Major League, College, and High School Pitching and Hitting Coaches. Each subject will be digitized and measured by a Bio-Kinetics Research & Development biomechanist, as well as an independent lab, to assure accuracy.
Research Team:
Jerry Haugen: Research Committee Chair
Glen Tuckett: Former ABCA chairmen of the board
Alan Blitzblau: Sports Biomechanist
Alfred Finch: Sports Biomechanist
Iain Hunter: Sports Biomechanist
Bobby Valentine Major League Manager
Tom Robson: Major League Hitting Coach
Bob Apodaca: Major League Pitching Coach
Ralph Dickinson: Professional Hitting Coach
Jeff McKay: Baseball Northwest
Gary Pullins: ABCA Board
Dr. Tony Stellar Bio-Kinetics Research & Development
Dan Moffett: Bio-Kinetics Research & Development
Bob Keyes: Bio-Kinetics Research & Development