Expert: John Priest - 8/28/2008

Question
Hi, I am a graduate student and for my thesis I am studying the effects of a proper warm-up on pitching accuracy and velocity, both before a game and in-between innings. So for my data collection I need to quantify velocity and accuracy. Velocity I will simply be measuring with a radar gun, but I am struggling to come up with a good approach to measuring/quantifying accuracy and figured I would ask if anybody might be able to suggest one. Thanks.

Answer
Ian,
If I understand your experiment then you would have a control group of pitchers, and a certain number of groups of pitchers that warm-up one way and another group of pitchers who warm-up another way.  This might be a tough experiment because of the difference in umpires.  Quantifying accuracy would be easy, just keep track of the umpires ball and strike calls, counting any hit ball as a strike.  To make the experiment more accurate you would need the same umpire in each game situation, which may not be possible.  Strike zones will vary from umpire to umpire.  

One option would be to do the experiment in a practice setting where you can control the strike zone.  

The best possible scenario would be if you had the same umpire and were able to video tape the game from behind the pitcher.  Some pitches a pitcher may throw will be strike but not hit the spot, which would be classified as an inaccurate pitch.  If you had a video you could sit down with the catcher, pitcher, and/or pitching coach to verify accuracy.  I am assuming you are doing this with a college team.  You should talk to the head coach or pitching coach about this.  They would probably be very interested (especially the pitching coach) to help and see what warm-up works best.  

You also may want to change your thesis because proper warm-up effects should be compared to improper warm-up effects.  I don't think a coach would let their pitcher warm up with an improper routine for the sake of an experiment.  Improper warm-ups lead to injuries.  A good experiment would be traditional warm-up vs. unorthodox warm-ups.  Some pitchers warm-up the same way (stretch, then gradually loosen the arm, long toss, then game throws).  Other pitchers have a different style and use weighted balls to loosen up their arms and some pitchers just have their own unique routine.  

Good Luck with your thesis and let me know if I can help further.
Thank You,
John Priest