The Relationship between Visual Skills and Batting Performance of Elite Major League Baseball Batters - Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between the visual skills and batting performance of elite professional baseball players.
Methods: The correlation of archival Vizual Edge Performance Trainer® (VEPT) data and regular season batting statistics of 20 elite Major League Baseball (MLB) hitters were evaluated using Pearson’s correlations (r). Subjects were then separated into VEPT quartiles and batting quartiles, and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the contribution of vision to elite batting performance.
Results: Significant large and moderate positive correlations were found between several visual skills and batting performance for the elite batters. Additionally, evidence of significant differences in batting statistics among players of dissimilar visual abilities supports the existence and implications of these relationships. Conclusion.
Based on the results of this study, it appears that, even amongst elite batters, those with greater visual capacities may exhibit significantly superior batting performance as measured by on-base percentage (OBP), slugging percentage (SLG), on-base plus slugging (OPS), and bases-on-balls percentage (BB%). Batting averages (AVG) may also be affected by differences in visual skills, though to a lesser extent.
Applications in Sport As such, these results may be used by scouts, managers, trainers, and coaches to improve player evaluation and training protocols.