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- Genre: Masters Thesis
Description
Pitchers are a vital part of the game of baseball and may account for up to two-thirds of the variance in win percentage. As they rise through the ranks of competition, physical skill set becomes less of a factor when compared to mentality. Pitchers are the “first line of defense” for keeping opponents from having an opportunity to score, as well as for holding onto their own team’s lead. Baseball pitchers not only face pressure to perform, but also experience stress from factors such as low pay, adjusting to higher levels of competition, and internal team competition for a limited number of spots. Athletes are often resistant to seeking aid from sport psychologists and often turn to unfavorable means to cope (i.e. drugs/alcohol, excessive exercise) with stress instead. Meditation has been shown to have beneficial effects on psychological factors associated with performance including emotional regulation, anxiety, confidence, focus, and mindfulness. Mobile applications have become a popular means of delivering mindfulness. The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of delivering a mindful meditation intervention using a mobile meditation application to improve psychological factors associated with performance (i.e. emotional regulation, anxiety (somatic and cognitive), confidence, focus, mindfulness) to minor league baseball pitchers. Pitchers in instructional league (Phase one) and off season (Phase two) were asked to meditate daily for 10-minutes each day for three weeks (Phase one) and eight weeks (Phase two). Pitchers were asked to complete self-report questionnaires and satisfaction surveys at pre- and post-intervention. Pitchers in phase one reported enjoying meditation, had improvements in self-confidence and sport confidence, and reported moderate decreases in cognitive anxiety and concentration disruption. Pitchers in phase two also enjoyed meditating (94.7%) and had improvements in self-confidence and moderate decreases in somatic anxiety. Low adherence due to timing (off-season) of intervention may have been a contributing factor to fewer outcomes. Future research should explore the feasibility and effectiveness of implementing meditation during the baseball season.
ContributorsDowling, Tiffany (Author) / Huberty, Jennifer (Thesis advisor) / Ransdell, Lynda (Committee member) / Buman, Matthew (Committee member) / Michel, Jesse (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
In baseball, the difference between a win and loss can come down to a single call, such as when an umpire judges force outs at first base by typically comparing competing auditory and visual inputs of the ball-mitt sound and the foot-on-base sight. Yet, because the speed of sound in air only travels about 1100 feet per second, fans observing from several hundred feet away will receive auditory cues that are delayed a significant portion of a second, and thus conceivably could systematically differ in judgments compared to the nearby umpire. The current research examines two questions. 1. How reliably and with what biases do observers judge the order of visual versus auditory events? 2. Do observers making such order judgments from far away systematically compensate for delays due to the slow speed of sound? It is hypothesized that if any temporal bias occurs it is in the direction consistent with observers not accounting for the sound delay, such that increasing viewing distance will increase the bias to assume the sound occurred later. It was found that nearby observers are relatively accurate at judging if a sound occurred before or after a simple visual event (a flash), but exhibit a systematic bias to favor visual stimuli occurring first (by about 30 msec). In contrast, distant observers did not compensate for the delay of the speed of sound such that they systematically favored the visual cue occurring earlier as a function of viewing distance. When observers judged simple visual stimuli in motion relative to the same sound burst, the distance effect occurred as a function of the visual clarity of the ball arriving. In the baseball setting, using a large screen projection of baserunner, a diminished distance effect occurred due to the additional visual cues. In summary, observers generally do not account for the delay of sound due to distance.
ContributorsKrynen, R. Chandler (Author) / McBeath, Michael (Thesis advisor) / Homa, Donald (Committee member) / Gray, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Shoulder injuries are common in major league baseball (MLB) players due to the explosive and unnatural throwing motion. The goal of the thesis was to provide quantitative information about factors that influence pitching outcomes, to better understand risk management of rotator cuff tears/injuries. Typically, shoulder injuries are due to the stress placed on the glenohumeral joint. While the kinetic chain and joint muscular forces produce the explosive overhead throw. There’s a vast range when it comes to shoulder injuries for pitchers. Rotator cuff injuries are common, and multiple factors contribute to either impingement/strains, tendinitis, or tears. The purpose of this study was to assess shoulder injuries sustained by MLB pitchers between 2015-2021, to identify changes between performance metrics, collected from a publicly available database for differences between pre and post injury. Selected factors of interest are: playing years in the league, injury history, average pitch types thrown for both preinjury and postinjury, release speed, release position in the x, y, and z directions, horizontal and vertical movement, horizontal and vertical positions of the ball when it crosses home plate (plate_x and plate_z), resultant velocities and accelerations, release spin rate, release extension, spin axis and return-to-sport determined by length of time spent on the injured list (IL) for more than 100 days or less than 100 days. Resultant velocities and accelerations were calculated using the provided metrics for velocity and acceleration in the x, y, z global dimensions. Resultant velocities were significant only for off-speed pitches (P= 0.053). Multiple linear regression analysis was preformed to relate ball flight kinematics (displacement, ball velocity, and acceleration), angular kinematics (spin rate and spin axis) per each pitch bin (e.g., fastballs, breaking balls, and off-speed pitches) to relate performance metrics found prior to injury and those after the sustained injury. Ball speed in miles per hour presented significance in the off-speed pitches, though spin rate was only significant for breaking ball pitches. Two distinct spin axis orientations were significant: breaking balls and off-speed pitches. The horizontal release position was significant for both fastballs and breaking balls than in the vertical release position which was significant for all pitch bins. From the analysis of variance, inferences were made to additional factors of interest that are out of the scope such as, kinematic sequence velocities and ground reaction forces.
ContributorsWalsh, McKenzie (Author) / Ofori, Edward (Thesis advisor) / Siegler, Jason (Committee member) / Peterson, Daniel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022