Batting cage performance of wood and nonwood youth baseball bats

The Kinetics of Swinging a Baseball Bat

The purpose of this study was to compute the 3-dimensional kinetics required to swing 3 youth baseball bats of varying moments of inertia. The 306 swings by 22 male players (age 13-18 y) were analyzed. Inverse dynamics with respect to the batter's hands were computed given the known kinematics and physical properties of the bats. Peak force increased with larger bat moments of inertia and was strongly correlated with bat tip speed. By contrast, peak moments were weakly correlated with bat moments of inertia and bat tip speed. Throughout the swing, the force applied to the bat was dominated by a component aligned with the long axis of the bat and directed away from the bat knob, whereas the moment applied to the bat was minimal until just prior to ball impact. These results indicate that players act to mostly "pull" the bat during their swing until just prior to ball impact, at which point they rapidly increase the moment on the bat. This kinetic analysis provides novel insight into the forces and moments used to swing baseball bats.

The effects of baseball bat mass properties on swing mechanics, ground reaction forces, and swing timing

Swing trajectory and ground reaction forces (GRF) of 30 collegiate baseball batters hitting a pitched ball were compared between a standard bat, a bat with extra weight about its barrel, and a bat with extra weight in its handle. It was hypothesised that when compared to a standard bat, only a handle-weighted bat would produce equivalent bat kinematics. It was also hypothesised that hitters would not produce equivalent GRFs for each weighted bat, but would maintain equivalent timing when compared to a standard bat. Data were collected utilising a 500 Hz motion capture system and 1,000 Hz force plate system. Data between bats were considered equivalent when the 95% confidence interval of the difference was contained entirely within ±5% of the standard bat mean value. The handle-weighted bat had equivalent kinematics, whereas the barrel-weighted bat did not. Both weighted bats had equivalent peak GRF variables. Neither weighted bat maintained equivalence in the timing of bat kinematics and some peak GRFs. The ability to maintain swing kinematics with a handle-weighted bat may have implications for swing training and warm-up. However, altered timings of kinematics and kinetics require further research to understand the implications on returning to a conventionally weighted bat.