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Blast Motion on Bat Speed: Training, Assessing, And Understanding Your Own Swing

May 29, 2024
By Joe Tourville
Partner, Blast Motion

MLB’s Statcast has recently come out with their Bat Tracking metrics, which has created a sort of “moment” for Bat Speed. So, for today, I’m going to provide some notes and insights on what we, at Blast Motion, have learned about Bat Speed over the years and some things we’re now learning.

How Bat Speed is Measured
(and Some Context to Consider)

Bat Speed is measured by the speed of the bat at impact. The point-of-measurement is the sweet spot (six inches from the top of the bat). One important context to consider when measuring Bat Speed with Blast Motion is that the readings depend on the point of contact. For example, the Bat Speed values will be higher if the point-of-contact is further out in front because the barrel has more time to speed up, and the Bat Speed values will be lower if the point-of-contact is deeper in the zone because the barrel has less time to speed up. So, a single swing can have two different Bat Speed readings depending on the point-of-contact. This is important to know because, in this way, you can also get an idea of where the hitter is making most of their contact, highlighting their ability to be on time consistently.

Why is Bat Speed Important?

It’s a Prerequisite

At Blast Motion, we view Bat Speed as a prerequisite for success. You absolutely need to have it in order to substantially contribute offensively to your ball club. How much Bat Speed you need very much depends on the level of play. For Major League Baseball, the average Bat Speed is 72 mph, and for NCAA Division-I players, the average is 65 mph.

Your Bat Speed Varies

It's important to know both your base bat speed produced at a Prep Baseball showcase or in BP, as well as your average in-game Bat Speed is because, as we now know from Statcast’s Bat Tracking data, the speed of each swing increases and decreases from the hitters' average in various counts. See the below averages per count from MLB this year (MLB average Bat Speed is 72 mph):

  • 3-0: 74.4 mph
  • 3-1: 72.2 mph
  • 2-0: 71.7 mph
  • 2-1: 70.9 mph
  • 1-0: 70.8 mph
  • 3-2: 70.1 mph
  • 1-1: 70.0 mph
  • 0-0: 69.6 mph
  • 0-1: 69.0 mph
  • 2-2: 68.9 mph
  • 1-2: 68.1 mph
  • 0-2: 67.4 mph

The Relationship Between Bat Speed and Hitting the Ball Hard

The crazy thing about Bat Speed is that it correlates with hitting the ball harder. Isn’t that crazy? If you swing the bat faster, you will hit the ball harder (nuts!). In fact, for every 1.0 mph of Bat Speed added enables a hitter to hit the ball +1.2 mph harder. Here’s a simple calculation:

  • +1 mph of Bat Speed = +1.2 mph of Exit Velocity
  • +2 mph of Bat Speed = +2.4 mph of Exit Velocity
  • +3 mph of Bat Speed = +3.6 mph of Exit Velocity

It’s a game of 'mishits'

Baseball Savant defines a ‘Barrel’ as: “... a batted ball with the perfect combination of exit velocity and launch angle.” Last season, only around 10 percent of the balls put in play were ‘barreled' by this definition. So, in a way, hitting is very much a game of capitalizing on your many… many mishits. And the best way to do that is to have the ability to hit the ball hard. And to hit the ball hard, you must be able to swing fast.

Anomalies

There are hitters who find success despite not having the prerequisite Bat Speed. However, these hitters tend to have other elite-level qualities that compensate for the lack of Bat Speed, such as having a high Rotational Acceleration (which is a Blast metric that measures how quick you can accelerate into your Bat Speed), which tends to yield way above-average bat-to-ball and swing-decision skills. However, these players tend to be anomalies – unicorns, if you will.

From a Major League Baseball context, yes, there are some players who have gone on to have solid careers despite having low Bat Speed (Luis Arraez), but a majority of these players, despite even having those elite qualities, tend to flare out in Double-A or Triple-A. Which, yes, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I’m pretty sure most amateur players today are not hoping that all their sacrifices and effort they’re giving to the game ends up with them getting cut after their third year in Triple-A. So, just to be safe, I think it would be smart if hitters took advantage of the information our game is providing us, which strongly suggests that you learn to swing the bat fast… and in all different counts and situations.

Training Bat Speed

The best part about training Bat Speed is that it’s one of the most straightforward things you can train – it’s the lowest hanging fruit, if you will. If you want to increase your Bat Speed, I’ve seen no better program, in terms of results, than using a Blast Motion sensor with Driveline’s overload/underload Bat Speed Training program, which focuses on: 1) getting stronger, 2) moving efficiently, and 3) learning to swing with intent.

If a hitter wants to improve their Bat Speed, gaining lean muscle mass and getting stronger is critical. In terms of weight training, it’s helpful to train with lower reps, higher sets, and longer rests in-between the sets. In this way hitters can fully recover after each rep and can continue to lift heavier throughout the workout adding more mass.

If a hitter wants to learn how to swing fast, they need to practice swinging fast, which is why Driveline’s program also focuses on intent-based bat speed training which they use with their weighted bats and a Blast Motion Sensor to monitor their Bat Speed values. The first round of BP is with an “overload bat,” which is 20 percent heavier than a “game bat,” in which the weight is added towards the end of the barrel. The next round is also with an “overload bat,” which is also 20 percent heavier than the game bat, but the weight is shifted towards the handle instead of the top. The third round of BP is with an “underload bat,” which weighs 20 percent less than the game bat, and the weight is distributed evenly. And then finally, the fourth round of batting practice would be with your game bat to tie everything together.

The overload bats and the varying distributions of weight help develop functional strength and can help clean up your mechanics, in an environment that enables self-correction. The underload bats helps develop bat speed by teaching the hitter how to control the barrel at speeds we haven’t experienced. Here is a simplified bat speed program Driveline has provided on their blog post “How To Increase Your Bat Speed.” It’s important to know that a lot of the times a deficiency in Bat Speed isn’t always a strength issue. For examples of this go look up videos of athletes in other sports trying to swing a baseball bat. In fact, for most hitters, the lack of Bat Speed is actually a movement issue.

This is where most hitters may feel the most frustrated, especially if they’ve been putting in the effort in the weight room, in which they see plenty of evidence of their strength, and yet they don’t see it displayed at the plate. This is also where it’s really important to be able to diagnose inefficiencies in your movements. I would recommend getting this done by someone who is TPI certified, or by a physical therapist. This is something Driveline also provides. In this way, hitters have clarity of which parts of their body are moving inefficiently so they can better allocate their time, resources, and effort towards specific areas of the body that require attention. In short, it makes your training actionable on a daily bases (even on your off days).

Showcase/BP vs. In-Game Bat Speed

The Batting Practice Bump

I often receive a lot of questions about the discrepancies in a player’s Bat Speed values when comparing data from a Prep Baseball showcase or in batting practice to live, in-game swings. Specifically, why are the Bat Speed values so much higher in showcase settings? This is something we’ve seen too, in fact, we’ve actually seen 10-plus mph increases in Bat Speed from players when comparing their batting practice data against their in-game data – and we’ve also seen this with top-ranked players in prestigious events, like the Prep Baseball All-American Game.

Why Is There a BP Bump?

It’s important to note that the increase is mainly in environments where the batting practice is evaluative. There are a few different reasons why this happens. First off, the hitters are amped up, there is a lot of adrenaline going through a teenager whose taking BP in front of a variety of talent evaluators.

Second, the approach for a hitter when taking BP at a Prep Baseball event is to show off the tool that they’re most incentivized to show off: the “Raw Power." To do this, they need to hit the ball far and hard, and to do that they need to swing hard and fast.

Then, take that approach and put it in a prospect who is already very good at reocgnizing pitches in a game, let alone a pitch thrown by a BP thrower. One thing I’ve personally noticed at Prep Baseball showcases, especially with top-end prospects, once a player sees around three pitches from the BP thrower, every swing after that is basically a bench press for the swing. At that point the hitter knows the speed and location of the incoming pitch well before it is thrown. Therefore, the hitter no longer needs to recognize the incoming pitch, but rather, he’s anticipating the pitch he knows is coming. This enables the hitter to swing as hard as they can with a minimal risk – thus producing an increase in Bat Speed.

Furthermore, as we already mentioned above, the Bat Speed values are always higher when the bat catches the ball out in front, and in showcase BP, we usually see a whole bunch of hitters who are consistently catching the ball out in front, letting their bat, powered by a swing with high-intent, reach its peak speed before contact (see the chart from Driveline below).

(Source: Driveline)

Swinging Hard vs. Swinging Fast

This brings up a really important topic that most hitters (and their coaches) don’t think about – swinging hard vs. swinging fast. Andrew Aydt, Assistant Director of Hitting at Driveline, put together an excellent video on this topic, which I highly recommend. In short, Swinging Fast is measured in Bat Speed. It is the speed which a batter swings the bat through the strike zone. Swinging Hard has to do with the perceived level of intensity exhibited by a player when swinging the bat.

  • Just to reiterate: Fast = what is measured; Hard = intent

The swings we’re seeing in showcases or batting practice are swings with a 100 percent intent level. That is their max Bat Speed. However, the best hitters are operating at 90 percent of their intent level in live-game settings (see chart below from Driveline).

(Source: Driveline)

Swinging at 90 percent intent level allows hitters to move at high speeds without sacrificing mechanics, bat path, and approach. This may be surprising, but learning to swing the bat faster should not come with a sacrifice of making contact with the ball. And this is why training to swing the bat fast is important – if it’s most advantageous for hitters to swing at 90 percent of their peak Bat Speed, then it’s critical for a hitter to be able to raise their ceiling in how fast they can swing, so that their 90 percent intent level (in-game swings) matches the MLB average.

Furthermore, it’s important to know that not every swing is going to be around 90 percent of their intent level. As Aydt notes in that aforementioned video, some of the best hitters in the game are able manage their intent levels based on the count and the situations. Such as taking a calculated risk of intensifying your intent level on a 2-0 count with a runner on third base, hoping to hit the runner in with a deep fly ball. But this is something a hitter can only do if they practice it.

Some Final Thoughts

At Blast, we’re pumped to see MLB's Statcast come out with Bat Tracking data. Now that there is public-facing data, we’re hoping that players, coaches, and fans will understand how important it is to measure the bat and the correlations to success that we’ve been preaching on, and at events like Prep Baseball showcases. Furthermore, the best part about this is that you can do your own Bat Tracking with a Blast Motion sensor, for over a million dollars less than what Statcast uses, which is where events like those that Prep Baseball hosts come in handy, where a player can learn about the intracies of their swing in addition to the quality of contact they make, provided by additional technologies used in-event, like TrackMan.

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