title: Comparison of three baseball-specific 6-week training programs on throwing velocity in high school baseball players.
abstract: Throwing velocity is an important baseball performance variable for baseball pitchers, because greater throwing velocity results in less time for hitters to make a decision to swing. Throwing velocity is also an important baseball performance variable for position players, because greater throwing velocity results in decreased time for a runner to advance to the next base. This study compared the effects of 3 baseball-specific 6-week training programs on maximum throwing velocity. Sixty-eight high school baseball players 14-17 years of age were randomly and equally divided into 3 training groups and a nontraining control group. The 3 training groups were the Throwers Ten (TT), Keiser Pneumatic (KP), and Plyometric (PLY). Each training group trained 3 d·wk(-1) for 6 weeks, which comprised approximately 5-10 minutes for warm-up, 45 minutes of resistance training, and 5-10 for cool-down. Throwing velocity was assessed before (pretest) and just after (posttest) the 6-week training program for all the subjects. A 2-factor repeated measures analysis of variance with post hoc paired t-tests was used to assess throwing velocity differences (p < 0.05). Compared with pretest throwing velocity values, posttest throwing velocity values were significantly greater in the TT group (1.7% increase), the KP group (1.2% increase), and the PLY group (2.0% increase) but not significantly different in the control group. These results demonstrate that all 3 training programs were effective in increasing throwing velocity in high school baseball players, but the results of this study did not demonstrate that 1 resistance training program was more effective than another resistance training program in increasing throwing velocity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, California State University, Sacramento, California, USA. rescamil@csus.edu
authors.forename: Rafael F
authors.initials: RF
authors.lastname: Escamilla
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ionno
authors.forename: M Scott
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: deMahy
authors.forename: Glenn S
authors.initials: GS
authors.lastname: Fleisig
authors.forename: Kevin E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Wilk
authors.forename: Kyle
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashiro
authors.forename: Tony
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mikla
authors.forename: Lonnie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Paulos
authors.forename: James R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Andrews
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D054874:Athletic Performance / Q000502:physiology*; D001484:Baseball / Q000502:physiology*; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D015444:Exercise / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D059385:Plyometric Exercise; D015397:Program Evaluation; D055070:Resistance Training / Q000379:methods*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires