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Thread: Baseball bat swing speed

  1. #1
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    Default Baseball bat swing speed

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    Ray and I had a conversation yesterday about the potential of starting a franchise here in Atlanta, he mentioned how Starting Strength has helped Jay Livsey's golf swing improve the exit velocity on his drives from 165ish to 180+.

    After watching the video Jay did I sent him some of the data I have on me for baseball.

    He asked me to post the data it here.

    I'm a former college baseball player (20 years ago) who still plays in a men's baseball league. I use an app from Blast Baseball that tracks swing metrics. It's used by the majority of MLB teams.

    Because of Starting Strength my bat speed, acceleration, and exit velocity are equivalent+ of what MLBers are able to do.

    The first image here is bat speed by level, the other is mine.

    IMG_0647.jpgIMG_0648.jpg

    This shows how acceleration is by lever, the 3rd column in this is mine.

    IMG_0649.jpgIMG_0651.jpg

    Although I'm older than any current MLB player, my bat speed is still at a plus level. I attribute it directly to the Starting Strength method.

    Steven

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    Force production, acceleration, etc.

  3. #3
    Ray Gillenwater's Avatar
    Ray Gillenwater is offline Administrator, Starting Strength Gyms
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    I’m dreaming of getting an MLB guy on the program and documenting the results for the YouTube channel. Steve, thanks for posting.

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    I’ve been running a MiLBer through the novice program the past 8 weeks.

    He’s 6’4”, now weighing 225. He started 8 weeks ago at a bw of 210.

    He left today for winter ball in Puerto Rico. Our first session was at 145lbs on squat. Finished this week at 330. Press started at 75lbs, finished at 130.

    He’s a pitcher. Prior to starting the program he was throwing up to 94mph. He’s excited to see where it will take him.

  5. #5
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    I did this experiment with baseball years ago, but unfortunately I didn't track any real data or conduct it as a controlled experiment. I'll share what I recall of my story for what it's worth.

    I was about 170 pounds, with a squat of about 150 pounds when I started. I batted in the middle of the lineup and was expected to be a power hitter, which I was. The problem is that I had a loop in my swing. So while I would hit bombs, I struck out a lot. So, I changed to a more level swing, which produced more line drives, more doubles, fewer HRs, fewer strikeouts. I got on the starting strength program to improve my strength and see what effect it would have.

    So, I grew to 220 pounds, acquired a 400 pound squat, and as I did this, I noticed my line drives on average started traveling farther and farther. HRs went up. Surprisingly, despite the added body weight, my sprint speed and infield range didn't change.. this shouldn't have been a surprise because as Mark said at a seminar or something: "just because you put a bigger engine in a car, doesn't mean it will be slower" or something like that.

    This is my own conjecture, but being bigger and stronger, I felt like I was also much more durable. I felt I healed quicker from injures, and overall, I had less injuries. I felt like training in-season actually helped recovery from baseball, particularly from throwing strains (or actually from preventing those). I had a knee injury on field, limped off, and thought "shit, i'll be out for at least a month" -- that thought based on previous experiences with similar injury. I recovered in 2 weeks, continuing with training while healing.

    On the negative side, I had more muscle strains and knots than I had prior to developing strength. I also suffered an oblique strain in the batting cages when I was training hard at the end of a novice progression. I suspect all this trouble was from not balancing my training with my sport, and having personal life stressors... I was basically an idiot and ignorant athlete trying all this shit on his own without the oversight of a coach. Baseball players have a culture of avoiding weightlifting to avoid such issues. One lanky teammate said to me after my oblique strain "I don't have any muscles, so I don't get strains, tears, knot, etc". Perhaps ignorant, but some of that mentality still exists.

    Regarding MLB athletes, or any professional level baseball player, I'm not sure how programming would work in-season. A professional baseball season is an endurance activity with few days off for non-pitchers.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven Mouzon View Post
    I’ve been running a MiLBer through the novice program the past 8 weeks.

    He’s 6’4”, now weighing 225. He started 8 weeks ago at a bw of 210.

    He left today for winter ball in Puerto Rico. Our first session was at 145lbs on squat. Finished this week at 330. Press started at 75lbs, finished at 130.

    He’s a pitcher. Prior to starting the program he was throwing up to 94mph. He’s excited to see where it will take him.
    I know these guys don't like their training in the public eye very often but I am curious if there's any way you could give me a hint as to who it is? I'm just interested in watching their performance from last year to the 2021 season on SS.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Frank_B View Post
    I know these guys don't like their training in the public eye very often but I am curious if there's any way you could give me a hint as to who it is? I'm just interested in watching their performance from last year to the 2021 season on SS.
    I'll ask him if it's okay to share some of his videos and his name.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by od1 View Post
    I did this experiment with baseball years ago, but unfortunately I didn't track any real data or conduct it as a controlled experiment. I'll share what I recall of my story for what it's worth.

    I was about 170 pounds, with a squat of about 150 pounds when I started. I batted in the middle of the lineup and was expected to be a power hitter, which I was. The problem is that I had a loop in my swing. So while I would hit bombs, I struck out a lot. So, I changed to a more level swing, which produced more line drives, more doubles, fewer HRs, fewer strikeouts. I got on the starting strength program to improve my strength and see what effect it would have.

    So, I grew to 220 pounds, acquired a 400 pound squat, and as I did this, I noticed my line drives on average started traveling farther and farther. HRs went up. Surprisingly, despite the added body weight, my sprint speed and infield range didn't change.. this shouldn't have been a surprise because as Mark said at a seminar or something: "just because you put a bigger engine in a car, doesn't mean it will be slower" or something like that.

    This is my own conjecture, but being bigger and stronger, I felt like I was also much more durable. I felt I healed quicker from injures, and overall, I had less injuries. I felt like training in-season actually helped recovery from baseball, particularly from throwing strains (or actually from preventing those). I had a knee injury on field, limped off, and thought "shit, i'll be out for at least a month" -- that thought based on previous experiences with similar injury. I recovered in 2 weeks, continuing with training while healing.

    On the negative side, I had more muscle strains and knots than I had prior to developing strength. I also suffered an oblique strain in the batting cages when I was training hard at the end of a novice progression. I suspect all this trouble was from not balancing my training with my sport, and having personal life stressors... I was basically an idiot and ignorant athlete trying all this shit on his own without the oversight of a coach. Baseball players have a culture of avoiding weightlifting to avoid such issues. One lanky teammate said to me after my oblique strain "I don't have any muscles, so I don't get strains, tears, knot, etc". Perhaps ignorant, but some of that mentality still exists.

    Regarding MLB athletes, or any professional level baseball player, I'm not sure how programming would work in-season. A professional baseball season is an endurance activity with few days off for non-pitchers.

    Heavy lifting would have to be done in congruence with off days/travel days. I doubt you would be able to add much strength in season and you don’t want to train critical structures the day before a game. For starting pitchers it is easier because you have a set schedule.

    I could have went to college on a baseball scholarship but didn’t. I did starting strength methods all the way to a 500 squat and then played an adult league with a mixture of minor leaguers, ex college and a couple of ex professionals here in Texas. Not surprisingly after acquiring strength I was belting homers and doubles in the 3 hole most of the games something I did not do in high school at all because I did not know how to strength train of course.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by od1 View Post
    "I don't have any muscles, so I don't get strains, tears, knot, etc".
    Well that's a technique. Or is it a program? Or non-program?

    Funny enough, I hear similar from aging relatives who are overweight, not obese, and need to call EMTs when they fall because their partners can't help them get off the floor. Yet they won't understand the need to gain strength, even at their advancing ages.

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by Steven Mouzon View Post
    I'll ask him if it's okay to share some of his videos and his name.
    Steve,

    Thanks a lot! If he agrees but prefer it not to be on a public forum you can e-mail me at strongereveryotherday@gmail.com

    Regards!

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