Authors: Anthony Cornwall, Dylan Snook, Travis Ficklin
Mentors: Travis Ficklin
Insitution: Utah Tech University
The purpose of this study was to discover any relationships between individual finger force capabilities of collegiate pitchers and the spin rates and axes of their four-seam fastballs. NCAA Division-I pitchers participated in the study. Using a hand-held dynamometer, multiple trials of a squeezing task were performed by each pitcher. Five trials were made using both index and middle fingers at maximum isometric effort. Then, in counterbalanced order, pitchers also duplicated the isometric squeeze isolating the index and middle fingers in one-fingered squeezes. Pitchers were constrained to make the maximum effort squeezes in a time frame similar to that of delivering a pitch.
Spin axis and rate for their four-seam fastballs were taken from previously collected ball flight tracking using a field Trackman system. Analysis was performed for any relationships among axis tilt and relative finger contribution to total force, as well as spin rates with total isometric force. Additional relationships based upon anthropometric measures of the hand and fingers were also explored and the results are to be presented.