COMPARISON OF LINEAR AND ANGULAR SWING VELOCITIES WITH DIFFERENTLY WEIGHTED WARM-UP BATS IN SOFTBALL PLAYERS

Abstract

Swing velocity has been considered as one of the essential factors of bat swing biomechanics, and traditionally coaches and players think it can be altered by using a differently weighted bat for warm-up before an at bat. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of 3 differently weighted warm-up bats on 3D linear and angular kinematics. Ten female varsity softball players were recruited and bat swing kinematics with normal (NW), heavy (HW), and light (LW) weighted warm-up bats were collected. Both linear and angular kinematic variables were compared between different bat weights using RMANOVA. Only 1 velocity variable difference between LW and NW, and 4 temporal differences between HW and NW were found. It is suggested that in general, swing kinematics is not altered by differently weighted bats warm-up prior maximal swing.