Effects of Distance between Home Plate and the Backstop on Self-confidence of Intercollegiate Baseball Players

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine whether the distance between home plate and the backstop may impact the levels of self-confidence of intercollegiate baseball pitchers when throwing their pitches. The null hypothesis (H0) is that there is no difference in baseball pitchers' levels of self-confidence when the distance between home plate to the backstop is greater than 25 feet. The research hypothesis (H1) is that there is a statistically significant difference in baseball pitchers' levels of self-confidence when the distance between home plate to the backstop is greater than 25 feet. The participants in the study were eleven (N=11) baseball pitchers who were members of the same intercollegiate baseball team in the United States. The research team concludes that there was a slight decrease in self-confidence overall when the backstop was more than 25 feet away from home plate, but the decline in the level of self-confidence for the participants seemed to be minor. The decline in self-confidence with a distance of greater than 25 feet was statistically significant for the best pitch but not statistically significant for the second best pitch.