At Driveline, we implement player-development systems based around metrics that will ultimately optimize performance. For example, from a pitching standpoint we work on developing velocity, designing pitches, and maximizing recovery, among other systems. This intuitive, multi-faceted approach is alr...
The Analytics Age has come to baseball and it is not going away. While the price of very accurate tracking technology has come down and the ease of use has increased, coaches outside of the professional level still struggle with both the learning curve for new technology and the constraints placed u...
Weighted balls continue to be a hot topic of discussion in baseball. We’ve written about weighted-ball research before, and with new research coming out recently, we felt it was time for another update. How We’ve Gotten Here Many years ago, a number of studies looked at weighted balls and how...
Our methods for teaching hitting and pitching differ from most. While there are many different styles of coaching, even those who have seen or worked with such variety find that our methods stand out in a number of ways. We’ve previously discussed various reasons for why we use weighted balls and wr...
Recently we released our first peer-reviewed study at Driveline Baseball, titled “Surface Electromyographic Analysis of Differential Effects in Kettlebell Carries for the Serratus Anterior Muscles.” Now, the title is a little long and perhaps challenging to understand specifically what we studied. S...
Swing plane is a commonly used, and certainly not a new, idea. Ted Williams famously discusses it in his book The Science of Hitting in 1971 and includes this awesome graphic. Swing plane is incredibly important, but the swing plane problem is much more complex than how it’s being discussed. ...
Growth-plate injuries are among the most commonly reported injuries for youth and teenage athletes—becoming an issue for even 16 and 17 year olds.. Also referred to as Little League Elbow or Little League Shoulder, these injuries occur to an area of the body responsible for roughly 80% of growth to...
According to the Paul Haggen at MLB.com, baseball and softball are the most participated in team sports for youth athletes, with over a combined 25 million participants in 2016 (Haggen 2017). Not only that, but baseball participation has increased 7.7% in 2016 (Haggen 2017). It’s great to see so man...
During the draft of every major sporting event, the topic of “sports specialization” is guaranteed to come up. You’ll probably end up seeing plenty of graphics like this: Undoubtedly, there will be people who point out that many top-draft picks were multi-sport athletes, and because of that, you sho...
Individualization is seen as a must have with training programs. While this is good, it doesn’t come without some misunderstandings. We’ve touched on some of those issues before, but it sometimes seems like people get confused by what individualization means in relation to sports. At times, individu...
