(28) RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BODY COMPOSITION, AGILITY, SPEED, AND ABSOLUTE AND RELATIVE POWER TO CURVILINEAR ABILITY AMONGST COLLEGIATE BASEBALL PLAYERS

Purpose: To determine which lab and field tests correlate to curvilinear ability for collegiate baseball players.

Methods: Twenty-seven Division I college baseball players (age = 20.2 ± 1.4 years, height = 181.2 ± 5.2 cm, body mass = 86.0 ± 9.7 kg, lean body mass = 75.0 ± 6.2 kg, BMI = 26.1± 2.2 kg·m^-2, percent body fat = 12.5 ± 3.7%) volunteered for this study. Tests included anthropometrics and body composition as well as absolute and relative bilateral and unilateral power. The pro agility (PA) was used to test linear agility. Speed was evaluated by players bunting and hitting a baseball and sprinting to first base. Absolute power tests included standing long jump (SLJ) and estimation of SLJ peak power (PP), drive (D) and stride (S) leg lateral-to-medial jump (LMJ), bilateral vertical jump (VJ), bilateral estimation of VJPP, actual bilateral VJPP, unilateral vertical jump (UVJ) from the D and S leg, and unilateral VJPP from the D and S legs. Curvilinear running ability, similar to running bases, was evaluated by players performing a novel curvilinear ability test (CAT). Relative values for all tests were calculated based on power values that were divided by athletes' body mass and lean body mass (LBM). All of these variables were recorded during the offseason and were correlated with one another by using a correlation matrix from raw data scores. The critical r value for Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was 0.381 with an alpha level of 0.05.

Results: Statistical analysis indicated significant high positive relationships (p < 0.05) between the CAT and PA right (r = 0.828) and PA left (r = 0.808). There were significant moderately high positive relationships between the CAT and the following tests; bunting and sprinting to first base (r = 0.760), percent body fat (r = 0.700), and body mass (BM) (r = 0.658). There were significant moderately high negative relationships between the CAT and the following tests; SLJ/BM (r = -0.731), SLJ (r = -0.722), LMJS/BM (r = -0.679), SLJ/BM (r = -0.654), LMJD/BM (r = -0.647), DUVJPP/BM (r = -0.627), and LMJS/LBM (r = -0.612). There were significant moderate positive relationships between the CAT and BMI (r = 0.551), height (r = 0.510), hitting and sprinting to first base (r = 0.504), and LBM (r = 0.492). There were significant moderate negative relationships between the CAT and the following tests; VJ/BM (r = -0.587), LMJD/LBM (r = -0.575), LMJS (r = -0.567), SUVJPP/BM (r = -0.563), LMJD (r = -0.529), estimated bilateral VJPP (r = -0.526), VJ/LBM (r = -0.515), SUVJPP/LBM (r = -0.429), DUVJPP/LBM (r = -0.422), and bilateral VJPP/BM (r = -0.420). There was a significant low positive relationship between the CAT and estimated VJPP (r = 0.388) and a significant low negative relationship between the CAT and VJ (r = -0.395).

Conclusions: These data suggest that significant relationships do exist between body composition, agility, speed, and power to the CAT, but one cannot interpret this to mean a cause-and-effect relationship. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: It is recommended that strength and conditioning coaches should use the CAT when assessing running ability of baseball players as it highly relates to the traditional, linear PA test and speed of running to first base. Training programs to develop absolute and relative multi-directional power that are bilateral and unilateral, as well as LBM should be implemented as these improvements could improve baseball-specific running ability.

Acknowledgements:

We would like to thank the baseball position players and coaching staff at Louisiana Tech University for being involved in this project.