The Best Way to Assess Baseball Players

Baseball assessments are all the rage right now. If you look at any Instagram page that involves baseball training, you probably see reference to their detailed assessment. I am no different. I have talked about assessments in detail, but up until now I’ve never taken the time to show how assessments work at Eclipse Wellness. 

As a physical therapist, I try to blend the physical therapy and biomechanical world with my experience as a strength coach and baseball coach. In bringing all of these factors together, I have created my ideal assessment. I would caution you from being assessed by someone who only lives in one world: physical therapy, strength and conditioning, or skill coaching. I went to school for 7 years to be a PT and I still am learning how the body works. Be cautious when trusting your pitching coach telling you that they understand strength, mobility, and injury prevention.

Without further ado, let’s talk about how a baseball assessment works at Eclipse Wellness. Is it the best assessment out there? Maybe. I think it works pretty well. I will explain my rationale and I am open to criticism or thoughts. I am always looking to improve!

A Thorough History - Injuries, Workouts, Workload, etc.

Would I be a good healthcare provider if I did not ask what brought you in today? History is important and often overlooked. I should be able to pick up on past injuries based on how you move, but it makes my job a lot easier if you tell me that you strained your low back a couple of years ago or you have multiple ankle sprains.

We also need to discuss what you are doing already. If you are crushing bench press and biceps curls each day and that is your whole workout program then I have some idea about how you will do in mobility testing. Similarly, if your workouts are bands and yoga, we may want to start with lower weights for the strength testing. Most athletes I see have Frankensteined a program together from various coaches, parents, and social media. We need to find out what you are doing and why you are doing it. That will give us a roadmap of what you might be missing.

Similarly, what is your workload? I recommend getting assessed at the beginning of the off-season (see Baseball Players: How to Dominate Your Off-Season) which allows you to focus your training energy on strength, mobility, etc. without worrying about competition. If you are in the middle of showcase season, we probably are not going to make wholesale changes. The biggest mistake I see healthcare providers make is neglecting the time of year and forcing a program on an athlete that makes no sense for their workload. We aren’t adding 5 new exercises when you are showcasing for colleges next week.

Power Testing for Baseball Players

Baseball is a power sport. You swing a bat and throw a ball really fast, or at least you probably want to. It makes sense that we lead off with power testing. Your power testing dictates the rest of the assessment, and you should be the freshest for it. I have taken some of my tests and philosophies from the folks at OnBaseU and TPI, and they highlight three areas to test: lower body, upper body, and core.

Testing power in the lower body is pretty easy. Vertical jumping is a simple way to look at how good your legs are at creating power. Higher jumping is better. I want to see how high you jump in inches. However, because I am a movement nerd, I want to see why you jump high (or don’t).

The first thing I will test is a countermovement jump (CMJ) versus a squat jump (SJ). A CMJ is as simple as quickly squatting down and jumping high. An SJ requires you to pause at the bottom before jumping up. In general, your SJ should be at least 80% of your CMJ. Similar values mean that you are more muscle-driven in your movement (at TPI they call it a gorilla). A CMJ that is much higher than your SJ means you are more tendon-driven in your movement (at TPI they call it a gazelle).

Gorillas use their muscles to move. The squat and hold in a SJ has little effect on their jump height because they are not relying on momentum. Gazelles use their quick-twitch tendons to move. Taking away momentum severely limits their ability. Think of Albert Pujols’s swing for a gorilla. There is little movement to start and he creates the power over time. An exaggerated gazelle swing would be Gary Sheffield. If he stops moving he is not going to generate his power. Determining how you move lets us get a glimpse of whether you need to work on quick-twitch power or overall strength. Younger athletes in particular should be trying to become well-rounded and attack their weaknesses.

Another great test for movement is a triple jump test. Jump 3 times forward and have someone mark where you land each time. If you are jumping at least 20% further with the third jump, you are probably a gazelle who is gaining momentum from each jump. Gorillas will stay the same or become worse with subsequent jumps. You should already be able to tell how this factors into your baseball performance. If you are a gorilla, you are not going to gain as much power from an exaggerated pitching motion or a bunch of movement before your swing. Gazelles may want to play around with more movement like Johnny Cueto.

Next we want to look at upper body power. Grab a medicine ball that is reasonable for you to throw. TPI likes a pound for every 20 pounds of body weight (a 160 pound person would use an 8 pound ball while a 200 pound person would use a 10 pound ball). Sit in a chair and chest pass the ball as far as you can. The number of feet you chest pass the ball should be close to the inches of your vertical jump with the CMJ, within 80% is reasonable.

Finally, core power involves the same medicine ball. Lie on your back and hold the ball over your head. You will perform a sit up and throw the ball (like a throw in for soccer). Measure the feet that you throw the ball and compare it to the feet of your chest pass and inches of your vertical jump. A bonus test that I like to throw in is a shot put throw from each side. You will probably throw further with your dominant side, but the non-dominant side should be within 10% of it. You would be amazed how many people are awful at using their non-dominant side. This shows some serious core weakness and simple training of both sides can pay huge dividends.

Ok, so you have these numbers. Now what? You want to compare and see where you are lacking. We need to determine if you have a strength issue in that area or a speed problem. If you aren’t strong enough to squat your body weight then your vertical jump is probably bad. Getting stronger will help it immensely. If your strength is good, then you may need more speed training (think sprinting, medicine balls, etc.).

Strength Testing for Baseball Players

Testing strength is a bit less scientific. Looking at lower body strength can be best done with a split squat. You should be able to split squat approximately 50% of your body weight for 8 repetitions on each side. You can also look at your squat, but this can be harder to max test as it is more fatiguing.

Upper body testing can be accomplished with a dumbbell chest press. You should be able to press a dumbbell that is approximately 30% of your body weight for 8 repetitions. Core testing is similar and can be accomplished with a bent over row that evaluates lat and core strength. I look for a similar range of 30% of your body weight with this test. You can also just grab a dumbbell and try to perform 8 sit ups holding the weight over your head. In all honesty, I rarely train the core in heavy movements. If your core power is bad, we will probably be hammering medicine ball movements and a variety of crunches, twists, and side bends. Baseball players need core mobility, so the training is often loading the core in different ways.

After all of this testing, you should have a roadmap of where you need to improve. Of course, you should train everything, but you can at least focus on the areas where you are deficient. This puts you ahead of most other athletes that you are competing against. They are probably doing general workouts or stealing stuff off social media. Remember when that was your workout plan? What fools they are.

Mobility Testing for Baseball Players

Now that you know where you stand with power and strength, we can perform a mobility assessment. As a physical therapist, this is like catnip to me. I have a core group of movements that I look at, but we will break out into different movements based on how you show me that you move through key areas including your shoulder, thoracic spine, pelvis, hips, and just about everywhere else.

I do not have as many objective markers for mobility testing because those tend to be suspect when people swear by them. You should be able to externally rotate your shoulder to 90 degrees overhead and rotate your thoracic spine at least 60 degrees. I have seen thousands of people move and have a pretty good idea of where you should be. Maybe one day I will write a blog post about mobility testing? Stay tuned.

How to Interpret Your Assessment

An assessment without effective interpretation is worthless. The strength and mobility training based on the assessment is just as important as the testing itself. If your upper body strength is bad and you have tight hips, you better be hitting some heavy chest press and stretching those hips. Imagine being a pitcher who fits that profile. You may be a gazelle who is unable to access your mobility because your hips are tight. Also, you do not have enough upper body power to create force with the throw. Your velocity could be down and 100 pitching lessons won’t fix the problem.

You need an expert who provides a thorough assessment, can implement that assessment in your strength and mobility programming, and can translate the findings to the field. It is rare to find a person who wears that many hats. If you are in the Sterling, Virginia area, reach out and we can schedule an assessment. Let’s give you a roadmap to reach your goals this off-season!

Want to hear even more about how we conduct baseball assessments at Eclipse Wellness? Watch our YouTube video!