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Writer's picture@adammoreaupd

Fatigue Management on a Budget

Updated: Apr 29, 2020

Attention: This post was written prior to the cancellation of the 2020 spring season. I feel the information is still impactful and can help you plan for your future seasons. Stay safe y’all.

Tracking throwing velocities and pitch counts has rightfully become not just accepted but expected in nearly all levels of baseball. In combination, these two variables can reveal measures of fatigue and, with enough recorded data, its onset. As a result, every coach in the world can go through their pitching chart to see in the 6th inning as their ace approaches his 100th pitch and velocity dips by a mph or two from where he started, it is likely time to go to the bullpen.

Coaches have gauged fatigue in this manner for years, but it seems like pitchers are the only ones getting the TLC when it comes to workload. That being said, is gauging a pitcher’s velocity in relation to pitch counts even enough to measure fatigue properly? What about all of throws being made in practice or during bullpens?

These are fair questions and feelings to have, which is why I began to implement different measurements on a daily/weekly (depending on the measurement) basis to gauge fatigue and assess readiness to perform. A consistent finding from the 250+ research articles I’ve reviewed over the past year is that players are far more likely to get injured when fatigued. This is especially the case for UCL tears in pitchers. While coaches have gauged fatigue predominantly based on pitch counts and velocity trends for years, I began to wonder if there might be a better way to measure fatigue that also accounted for all throws including in game, during practice and in bullpens.

As a performance data junky, I would normally want to track the numbers associated with every single exercise or action the guys perform, but in order prevent myself from dealing with more data than I could handle, I elected to focus primarily on two variables for this season: grip strength and vertical jump.

Grip strength and vertical jump both require explosive movements, are easy and quick to perform, and can be objectively measured ensuring I receive consistent, reliable data. Moreover, research has found that grip strength has a high correlation to throwing velocity and requires powerful contraction of one of the primary muscles (the flexor digitorum superficialis) that offloads torque throwing places on the UCL, making it a perfect test for baseball players. For reasons that are perhaps more commonly understood, I found vertical jump to be a wonderful measure of lower body explosiveness. Additionally, because the test results of these two measures do not vary with different recorders, there is no chance of bias or skewed results.


My protocol:

I measure grip as a single max effort squeeze of a Jamar hydraulic hand grip dynamometer (shown below on left) and measure vertical jump on a “Just Jump” jump mat (shown below on right). I am not by any means suggesting that these are the only two ways to get these measurements, but it is what I have access to. Every Monday, I measure both of these metrics to record a baseline for the week, gauge fatigue coming off of the previous weekend series, and assess readiness for the week ahead. Measurements are performed after the team completes their dynamic warm up but before practice officially begins. If you have been reading my other posts, I am sure you can very well guess these numbers go right back into our team sheet on Google Sheets to ensure every member of the coaching or support staff has immediate access to the most up to date data.




Throughout the week, grip strength is then taken after each throwing session in which a player deems to have exerted greater than 80% effort, regardless of the distance or amount of throws. Vertical jump is measured again on Wednesday or Thursday (depending on the weekend schedule) to determine how hard a specific player should be pushed on the last day of practice before our weekend series.

My Interpretation:

Whenever I identify dips of 10% or more in a player’s grip strength, all coaches are notified and the player is instructed to go light on their throwing both in volume and intensity. Players who record a greater than 20% drop in grip strength are instructed to take the day off from throwing. Players receiving instruction to lighten up or take the day off will then be retested before the next day of baseball activities to assess their readiness.

If a player’s vertical jump has remained consistent with his baseline jump for the week (within 5% of his baseline, which happens in most cases), that player can go through normal practice as scheduled. Players with more significant dips from their baseline are instructed to take it a bit easier on their legs during the practice when possible and are to get with the athletic trainer to take any last minute measures deemed necessary to best recover before the coming weekend series.

Beyond looking at just a single week of numbers, comparing results on a week to week basis also allows me to notice trends for a player. If I see that a player’s numbers fall on a weekly basis, something needs to change. This is why communication across all support staff is paramount. A player in this scenario, for example, may need to work with our strength & conditioning coach to alter his training plan, spend more time with our athletic training staff to create a better recovery schedule, or talk with our coaching staff to better manage weekly workload.

On the other hand, if a player has either plateaued or increased in his measurables, I know his current schedule and plan is a good fit. Like any development coach, I often struggle to accept performance plateaus, so I have to constantly remind myself that during the season, adjusting any in-season training plans to see consistent performance gains is tough, possibly risky, and not the primary objective.

Like many programs, we do not have the resources to allocate much money to technology; however, we are fortunate to have access to a grip dynamometer and a “Just Jump” mat. But even without these resources, you can get creative. Measuring vertical jumps can be easy even if you do not have a mat. Tape on a wall with a yard stick can do wonders to make your jump measuring station. Additionally, measuring verts is not the end all be all magical answer; it is just what I elected to look at. Another possible solution to measuring lower body power is a standing broad jump or even lateral bounds or lateral medial jumps, which have been found to have a fairly high correlation to throwing velocity. While standing broad jumps, lateral bounds and lateral medial jumps can be measured easily, any form of lateral movement varies greatly with levels of coordination and comfort. Thus, they may not be the best option for groups with lower training ages (less experience working out). If you do elect to go with broad jumps, proper footwear (cleats on grass or court shoes in a gym) matters for safety and consistency way more than you would expect, so be sure to keep that in mind. As for grip strength, I would not compromise. When it comes to protecting against UCL tears, getting objective data to quantify fatigue is imperative. If you can’t spend the $300 to buy a new one, used hand grip dynamometers can be found online for around $100. Again, grip strength has a high correlation to throwing velocity and is solid test of the muscles protecting the UCL making it an incredibly powerful measurement. There are plenty of other tests that can be done to gauge upper body fatigue such as various med ball pushes for velocity or bench press bar velocity, but due to its ease and speed of measurement as well as reliability, I am certainly partial to grip strength.

Using performance tests to gauge fatigue—grip strength and vertical jump in my case—offers a new look into how coaches can quantify player recovery and performance readiness. This information enables me to go into each week with a quantifiable measure of how players are feeling without relying on their own subjective self-assessments. This objective data, as simple as it may be, allows me and the rest of the support staff to make judgements on more than just “feel” and provides a standardization to the recovery and readiness process, in turn, making communication easier. If a player’s numbers drop, both player and staff can immediately identify a plan to get back on track. The level of transparency and communication associated with this approach promotes an environment in which all support staff members work together with individual players to adjust plans as necessary to ensure each player is ready to go by the next game. As stated previously, the metrics and tools we use are not the only way to look at readiness of a player. I encourage you to get creative and utilize what you have within your program or on your campus before you go out and purchase anything crazy, unless of course something crazy is within your budget. I welcome a continued discussion on this topic and am open to any thoughts or questions.

Thanks again,

Adam Moreau, MBA, CSCS

Director of Player Development and Recruiting Coordinator

Eckerd College

419-250-7243

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