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    Biomechanics

    (D-153) The Effects of a Week of Skills Camp on the Kinematics and Kinetics of Baseball Pitching in Youth Athletes

    Friday, October 13, 2023
    9:30 AM – 10:30 AM PDT
    Location: Exhibit Hall - Row D - Poster # 153

      Presenting Author(s)

    • Marianne Voigt

      Undergraduate Student
      Bucknell University
      MASSAPEQUA PARK, New York, United States

      • Co-Author(s)

    • GF

      Garrett Fernandez

      Graduate Research Assistant
      Wake Forest University School of Medicine, United States

      • Primary Investigator(s)

    • KN

      Kristen Nicholson

      Assistant Professor, Orthopedic Surgery
      Wake Forest University School of Medicine, United States

    Introduction::

    Baseball pitching is a complex action that is often done incorrectly by youth athletes due to lack of training. Youth leagues allow players to begin pitching to each other around age 7 [1], however at this early in player development, many athletes struggle to grip the ball and properly execute the six different stages of pitching (Figure 1). These struggles cause inaccuracies in throwing and its mechanics along with a potential for increased stress on the elbow and shoulder joints [2]. Baseball camps often help teach young athletes the proper mechanics of pitching by fine-tuning skills and offering instruction from higher level coaches and players. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a week of skills camp on the kinematics and kinetics of baseball pitching in youth athletes.



    Materials and Methods:: All subjects for this study were recruited from the 2023 Wake Forest University Summer Baseball Camp. Parental consent, along with informed assent from the child participant were obtained before partaking in the study. Participants ranged from 7-9 years old and attended all days of camp. Upon arrival on the first day of camp, the participant’s height and weight were recorded along with how the individual gripped the baseball. After initial measurements were taken, each participant threw five baseballs at a target, positioned forty-six feet away from the pitching mound. This process was repeated on the last day of camp. All data was collected through the markerless motion capture system KinaTrax, with cameras operating at 300Hz. A TrackMan system was used in order to capture the velocity of the ball, and accuracy was noted. Analysis was performed through two sample t-tests assuming unequal variance, across all participants. These tests were performed to determine differences in elbow torque, elbow angle at footstrike, elbow angle at maximum shoulder external rotation, maximum shoulder external rotation velocity, maximum shoulder distraction force, shoulder abduction at footstrike, shoulder abduction at ball release, shoulder external rotation at footstrike, and maximum shoulder horizontal abduction. Descriptive statistical measurements of average age, height, and weight of participants as well as ball velocity at the beginning and the end of the week were calculated.

    Results, Conclusions, and Discussions::

    Data was collected on 25 youth athletes, however preliminary results for only 16 athletes were analyzed. The average age of participants was 8.4 years, with an average height of 54.7 inches and average weight of 76.7 pounds. The average velocity across all players decreased from 43.1 mph on Monday to 42.4 mph on Friday. The average accuracy of pitches increased from 64% on Monday to 68% on Friday. Statistical t-tests analyzed differences in mean kinematic and kinetic variables at the beginning and the end of the week. No significant differences were found in the analysis of any kinematic variables (Table 1). This is likely due to the small sample size of the data analyzed and the great variation in ability levels of the participants. Some athletes had been playing for years, while others had never picked up a ball before, thus making collection of velocity data difficult. Furthermore, other studies have stated that many coaches base their teaching techniques off of adult pitching kinematics [4] so it is important to note that there are distinct differences between child and adult kinematics, potentially impacting the results as well. 


    No significant differences were found for any kinematic variables after a week of play amongst youth athletes, however, there was an increase in pitch accuracy. This was a preliminary study investigating the impacts of a week skills camp on youth athletes. The results indicate that a longer period of time is needed to make significant improvements in the pitching mechanics of young baseball players. Future studies should further investigate the impact skills camp has on the individual athlete level as well as incorporate a larger data set.



    Acknowledgements (Optional): :

    This project was supported in part by the NSF REU Site (Award #1950281) in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.



    References (Optional): :

    [1] Little League Baseball and Softball [2] Glenn S Fleisig, Rafael F Escamilla, Biomechanics of the elbow in the throwing athlete, Operative Techniques in Sports Medicine 1996. [3] Meister K. Injuries to the shoulder in the throwing athlete. Am J Sports Med. 2000. [4] Jason Wicke, David W. Keeley, Gretchen D. Oliver, Comparison of pitching kinematics between youth and adult baseball pitchers, Sports Biomechanics, 2013.