Field-Testing Measures Related to Youth Baseball Hitting Performance.

Abstract: Bordelon, NM, Agee, TW, Wasserberger, KW, Downs-Talmage, JL, Everhart, KM, and Oliver, GD. Field-testing measures related to youth baseball hitting performance. J Strength Cond Res 39(2): 210-216, 2025-The purpose of the study was to determine the relationship between field tests and youth hitting performance (batted-ball velocity). Forty-nine youth baseball athletes (age: 11.1 ± 1.6 years; height: 151.7 ± 13.2 cm; body mass: 47.1 ± 15.1 kg) were rotated through the following field tests: passive bilateral hip and shoulder internal rotation (IR) and external rotation (ER) range of motion (ROM), bilateral hip and shoulder ER and IR isometric (ISO) strength, bilateral grip strength, trunk rotation ROM, standing broad jump (SBJ), triple broad jump, single leg lateral rotational jumps, and 3 maximal effort hits off a stationary tee. Regression analyses were performed to determine the associations between grip strength, hip strength, jump tests, and ROM with batted ball velocity. For the grip strength, hip strength, and jump tests regression models, body mass (kg) and height (cm) were entered first to estimate the proportion of variance accounted for by anthropometrics. A Bonferroni correction was applied a priori to α = 0.013. The jump-testing model, including only SBJ distance, was the best predictor of batted ball velocity above and beyond the predictive effects of anthropometric measures. Although less than the jump-testing model, the results determined that the hip strength model, including only nondominant hip ER ISO strength, was the second-best predictor of batted ball velocity. Practitioners can use these tests to monitor training progression in youth baseball athletes and identify deficits in physical ability that can be improved.