BROWN
Alpert Medical School
DEPARTMENT OF ORTHOPAEDICS

site search
  schedule | services | published articles | directions | contact us | home

The Brown Baseball Bat Performnace Study

CURRENT STATUS AND PROGRESS (updated 10/22/09)

STUDY

STATUS

  • Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval received. 
  • Calibration and accuracy evaluation of camera system (Qualysis). 
  • NCAA compliance received. 
  • Player recruitment underway. Interested 13U and 14U right-handed batting players should contact Beth Therrien
  • HS and collegiate studies will occur after bats meeting the 2011 rules are available for retail purchase.

PURPOSE

The purpose of these studies is to measure the performance of baseball bats.  Our unique 3-D computer algorithms compute the batted ball speed and bat swing speed at any impact location along the bat from standard motion tracking data.  Using these two speeds we can correctly compare the performance of wood bats to any non-wood bat.

In 2002, we compared wood to – 5 metal and found that some metal bats performed like wood and others metal bats hot the ball faster and over a greater ranger of the length of the bat’s sweet spot.   Details can be found in several of our papers.

The selection of non-wood baseball bats has greatly expanded since our previous study.  A list of bats in the current study.  The results of this study are essential to understanding the performance of baseball bats and supporting the validity of laboratory test systems.

This study is not designed to address injuries or the risk of injury from batted balls. 

baseball bat motion in 3D

 

 

 

 

 


afiliated hospitals | brown alpert medical school | brown university | related sites | contact us | home