Baseball Players, Should we use Bat Donuts | A Breakdown of Bat Velocity

The on-deck circle is full of traditions that feel right, but “feels faster” can be a trap. We dig into bat speed and bat velocity through a Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research study on warm-up devices, then translate it into coaching decisions you can actually use with baseball players.

We talk through why hitters swing donut rings, power wraps, and other weighted warm-up bats, and what the research suggests happens next. The kinetic after-effect can make a standard bat feel lighter, but that doesn’t guarantee higher bat velocity. We also get into why load placement matters, how a higher moment of inertia can slow the swing, and why some heavy, top-loaded options may change swing mechanics in ways that hurt performance.

Then we switch to the real world: if a routine is part of an athlete’s confidence, barging in with “science says you’re wrong” is a good way to lose buy-in. I lay out a practical, low-drama way to test changes during practice, blowouts, or controlled trials so you can collect feedback without disrupting game flow. If you coach, train, or play, you’ll leave with a clearer framework for evidence-based baseball training and better warm-up choices that respect both data and psychology.

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Transcript

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Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitness.com. Also make sure to check out my book, How to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Hi day y'all. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we're going to talk about bat speed. I'm not talking about going to Austin and the bats that are flying under the Congress Bridge. I'm talking about baseball bats. This is coming from the Journal of Strength and Conditioning of Research, the JSCR. Trainers should absolutely invest into getting this monthly subscription. I don't have any partnership with them. I hope it's okay that I'm going through this, but this is coming from 2011. I was going through my library the other day looking at books I haven't read in a while. And I have a huge stack from when I had a subscription when I was first started teaching. And I'm like, you know, this could be a really interesting thing to dive into some of the research and read this to you, help you better understand what goes into studies, and just talk about some of the great stuff that people are doing. And there's so many great associate editors. I'm reading the back of this journal right here. It's about 200 pages. Each month you'll get one. And a lot of these professors I had at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Armstrong, Sean Ardent. If you have an opportunity to go to the ISSN, he speaks there regularly. You have uh, who else have we got on here that I would recognize? Dr. Fleck, Stephen Fleck. He's written a lot of great textbooks. Duncan French, he is an absolute stud. He was at the University of Connecticut when I was there as my undergrad. He was teaching some of the courses there. He's now the head of UFC, does a lot with MMA fighters. Tim Gabbit, Disa Hatfield was also my professor at the University of Connecticut. She is the daughter of the great Dr. Fred Hatfield, Dr. Squat, John Ivy, Dr. Carl Marish. He was the head of the kinesiology department at University of Connecticut. He left to the Ohio State, Dr. Kramer and his team with Dr. Vullock. They followed him over there. Absolute legend in the industry. Dr. Travis Triplett, Maria L. Urso, Lawrence Weiss, Dr. Wallaby. He has some really cool stories because he is this absolute monster battletoad of a professor, just absolute jack. And if you type in Dr. Wallaby, it's W I L L O U G H H B Y. He has a really cool story. When he was teaching at Baylor, there was a lady in class who brought her kid in, but little baby, and baby started crying. And so he took the baby and he taught the rest of the class. And it's just a really cool photo because he's this massive dude. And he's going over to this, you know, some crazy stuff with bioenergetics and hormones. Absolute stud, but he has the baby in his hand. And so just a cool little excerpt there because a lot of these people don't even have following on social media. So we get caught up in the horseshit online. Oh, this person has 300,000 followers. They must know what they're talking about because they got jacked abs and they're talking about peptides. The professors are in the trenches and they're actually doing the work and they're improving the industry. So hopefully you find these valuable. I just got a cool email the other day from a podcast company saying that they wanted to highlight our podcast because we're number 38, top most influential fitness and wellness podcasts that are out there in the 1% of all podcasts worldwide. But I'm greedy. I want to be in the top 10. So your support, sharing the podcast, it really helps with that. So I'd appreciate it. If you find these valuable, leave that five-star review. Let trainers know you don't have to just settle for that textbook certification. You can get out there, hands-on learning. I'm going to be in Oakland this weekend. I'll be in Chicago for our level two, April 17th and 18th. International Toronto, our first one, May 1st and 2nd, our first level one in April at Santa Monica, 25th and 26th. The level ones are for trainers, zero to five years. Level twos, you can still go there if you're a new trainer, but the soft tissue and the more advanced anatomy can be really overwhelming. And what trainers will say it's like drinking water through a fire hose. So that's why we're launching the level ones in Atlanta as well as Santa Monica to really up your programming and your systems for assessments to build that confidence and then just sprinkle in the level twos to get into the soft tissue. And we're doing our first level two with nutrition in New York. We're probably gonna do that in July or August. Mel and I are finalizing that, but now we have five seminars. It's really cool to see our progressions and you know give us a pat on the back because a lot of people don't have the will to go out there and try to educate and better the industry. They just hide behind a textbook, they promote with a bunch of money because they're owned by billion-dollar companies. And unfortunately, trainers don't make it. And that's really my passion. I just did a great podcast prior to this with Linda. And it's cool to hear her passion of being a gym owner. My passion is changing the industry, helping trainers build that confidence, streams of revenue, because you can turn your passion for fitness in your career. And if you're listening to trainers who are victims saying it's so hard to make money, the gym takes all your money. You don't want to be around them. You want to surround yourself with the best. So that's why you go to seminars. That's what levels you up. So today's gonna be a little different. I'm gonna be reading a lot from this journal article, the effect of various warm-up devices on bat velocity of intercollegiate baseball players. This comes from the Department of Tinesiology, Louisiana Tech, Mr. S-Z-Y-M-A-N-S-K-I. So if you didn't want to subscribe to the N SCA, you can actually reach out to that professor and they will send you the study that they did. Most of us have no idea what goes into a study. So before I start reading the abstract and the introduction and the conclusion and talking about some of the results, I was involved in a study at the University of Connecticut. It was about Disa, actually, Dr. Hatfield, she's the one who was doing it. And it was force plate time under tension. And it was just so cool to be involved as one of the lab rats. And when I was interning at Connecticut, I would bring a bunch of blood examples into the little, what do they call it? Like um a cylinder thing, a centrifuge, I believe is what it's called, that put the blood in there and extract the white blood cells and red blood cells and just everything that goes into it is just fascinating. And we don't give these scientists enough credit. That's why we have professors on our team because we want to constantly be involved with what's going on now. Because when I did that study in 2004, it wasn't released into the JSCR, I believe 2010. So a lot of the stuff that you're seeing on social media is really outdated. That's why you want to surround yourself with professors. Dr. Galpin in Texas, you want to learn from these individuals who are giving you what the current science says. Dr. Schollenfeld, he does a lot of great stuff with hypertrophy, but scientists, most of them, are going to be constantly evolving and challenging. And we used to talk about the STD principle of metabolic stress and tension and damage, the most cited journal article from 2010. But the studies have changed. And now we're, uh it's not too much metabolic stress. Sure, if you want to get a pump at the end of a workout, that's cool. Damage, that's cool. If you want to be sore, I guess. But really, the main driver for hypertrophy is mechanical tension. That should be the focus of your workouts. And that's how we evolved our CCA. That's why the first circuit, you should focus on that main core pattern, overload that optimally. But we are not training in optimal conditions as a trainer because we have to take our clients through full body workouts twice a week, maybe three times a week. But for a lot of us, we go to the gym and we do a split, a push, a pull, a leg day, whatever, and you're there for sometimes two or three hours. We have to do what's best with the time given. And sometimes from a scientific standpoint, it may not be 100% optimal, but we're doing the best that we can. And you need to give yourself a pat on the back because if you're listening to this, you are trying to improve and sharpen your skills. So I'm proud of you. I give you a shout-out. I'm gonna go through this introduction. So shoot me a message on Instagram, YouTube, podcast, wherever you're listening to this. If you enjoy this, I will do more of them. Bear with me with my reading skills introduction. I'm not gonna read every single line from this. I'm gonna give you the highlights, but it has been reported that bat velocity is an important component for successful hitting. Baseball players from Little League to Major League Baseball traditionally swing weighted devices in the on-deck circle to warm up before stepping into the batter's box. The type of warm-up devices used in the on-deck circles varies. Today, amateur and professional baseball players commonly use a 16-ounce donut ring or a 24-ounce power wrap added to their game bat or a 96-ounce, it's called a shut dirks warm-up bat. The idea is that swinging a heavy warm-up device in the on-deck circle will increase players' bat velocity with their game bat when attempting to hit the ball during an at-bat. If the bat velocity is increased, this will allow the batted ball exit velocity to be greater, the baseball to be hit further, or both. If a warm-up device can produce optimal results, such as a greater bat velocity as one swings at a pitched baseball in the batter's box, then a player's performance, their average home run slugging percentage, could improve. So we have Mr. Groomer stated that perceptual distortion of movement as a result of experience with a previous object is the crux of experimental designs in which bat weight was manipulated to determine the effect on bat speed. Such perceptual distortion is referred to as kinetic after effect. Although the number of studies involving kinesthetic after effect with baseball have been increasing, it needs to be mentioned that research on kinesthetic after effect after practice with a weighted object has been previously reported. Lindbergh and Hewitt investigated the effect of training with an oversized basketball on ball handling and shooting. The results indicated that performance was not improved, even though subjects reported a perception of increased ball handling ability. Stockholm and Nelson examined the effects of weighted vests on jumping performance. Subjects jumped with weighted vests, then jumped without weighted vest. They reported no improvements in jumping performance. Nelson and Knofsenger evaluated speed of elbow flexion before and after applying weights to the arm. They reported no differences in speed, but the subjects stated that they experienced the kinesthetic after effect of feeling faster. However, previous baseball research by De Rene, D-E-R-E-N-N-E et al. The only time you see et al. just means there's a bunch of people that are involved in that study. The first person who's mentioned in the study is the name of the professor who will get the credit, but then there's a bunch of other people. So et al. just means more people were involved, has shown that warm-up with implements weighing between 27 and 34 ounces produced the greatest bat velocity for high school and intercollegiate, ex-college, and professional baseball players when swinging a 33-inch, 30-ounce standard game bat. This research suggests that there is a specific percentage of the standard implement weight, plus or minus 12%, that produces the most positive effects on bat velocity. So that's really what they're studying when they do this. And so then the next part, they go over the methods, the experimental approach to the problem, the subjects. We have 22 male division one intercollegiate baseball players, standard age of 20, and then you'll see plus and an underscore of minus. So that means plus minus one and a half years. That means that they're 18 and a half to 21 and a half. That's what plus minus means. You take that standard deviation, that age, that mean 20, plus 1.5, 21.5, and then minus 1.5. Stats is a big course that you have to take to be able to do studies. When it gets into the instruments that they use, the procedures, the warm-up devices, they have 10 different warm-up devices used in the study. And then they'll usually have like either images or tables breaking down what they found, the statistical analysis, the results, and then discussion and conclusion. Now, any professor will tell you don't just read the introduction and the conclusion. You got to get into the meat and potatoes. And a lot of people will just cherry pick off of that. So, what I'm going to do here is I just read to you the basis of what they were trying to find. And now I'm going to get into the practical applications, then I'll give you my insights afterwards. This study suggests that Division I intercollegiate players interested in having the highest bat velocity during a game at bat can use any of the 10 implements tested because bat velocities were not significantly different from one another. Furthermore, heavier warm-up devices, and they go over like weighted gloves and donut rings, did not provide greater bat velocity than the standard bat or lighter devices. However, some words of caution may be warranted, even though it has been reported by previous research. So when you see a parentheses and says 6, 8, 9, 13, when you go to the references and you can then read that. So for example, here's a reference from number one, Adair, that's the professor, the physics of baseball, the third edition. And it says New York, and it talks about the publishers who did it, and they give you reference points where you can go and look at those researches. People don't do that. People say, I did my research. No, you typed into Chat GPT now. Am I right? Confirm my biases. So when people actually are in the trenches doing research, it's not easy. I remember a class at Connecticut. They would give us one journal article for the whole month to dissect it and then bring and present to the professor on what we learned. And then they would break it down and say, okay, that was good, but you were wrong here. Really powerful exercise in developing the critical thinking skills. So even though it has been reported by previous research that swinging weighted bats heavier than one standard game bat as a warm-up provides a psychological advantage because the standard game bat feels lighter. A majority of the research has demonstrated that heavy bats, specifically a donut ring added to the standard game bat, actually produce slower bat velocities and alter swing mechanics. And that's really important, both of those aspects, which I'll talk about at the end. Therefore, individuals interested in using a warm-up device should keep in mind that over and underweighted bats, plus minus 12% of their standard game bat, which are not loaded top heavy, have been demonstrated in the literature to consistently produce the greatest bat velocity. In support of these findings, De Renane and Southward reported that using a bat with a larger moment of inertia not only slows down a player's swing, but also changes the batter's swing pattern. This could potentially decrease the chances of hitting successfully. Although not significantly different in the study, it is interesting to see that two of the most commonly used warm-up devices used in amateur and professional baseball, the donut ring and the power wrap, produce slower bat velocities to in previous research. Therefore, it is recommended that baseball players still follow the guidelines of their own et al. And they give you their resources four to six and swing warm-up bats that are within 12% of their standard game bat, where the weight of the bat is evenly distributed. Let's just kind of hook that sit in for a second. You may need to listen to this a few times, but now there's the practical aspects of being a coach working with an athlete. Eric Cressy is one of the legends in the game as an upper body trainer who specifically works with overhead athletes and baseball players. He has a spot in Florida as well as Boston. Tony Jenalcore and him started Cressy Performance along with one other gentleman, Pete, I forget his last name, but those three started Cressy Performance. But Eric's really a legend when it comes to overhead athletes. So he's working with the Yankees. He's done a lot with professional athletes, the USA baseball team. If I were to come in there and say, hey, let me start working with Judge over here. Hey, stop doing what you've been doing and you're wrong. He's gonna look at me like, who the fuck are you, dude? What's your background? Oh, you read a study from 2011? That's oh, you're wrong. You have to take the psychological ramifications that could happen. So, for example, there's been studies that show static stretching before running really doesn't prevent injuries and it's not that necessary. But if I went over here to Santa Monica High School and they have this legendary cross-country coach, which I believe they do, and I were to say, you're wrong, don't have anyone do static stretching anymore. And you have a bunch of these high school kids that don't static stretch, which they've been doing for years, and then they go out there and go for a run and someone gets hurt, who's wrong? I am wrong. The quote unquote science that I just produced actually hurt someone. So you're a fucking dipshit. That's what they're gonna say, rightfully so. So you have to look at what you've been doing. If I come on as a strength coach, as I have my CSCS, I actually didn't get it renewed because I don't care about the CEUs. I just got it from my book. That's all that matters. But when I pass that test, it showcased that I can go and work with athletes at that professional level. And if I were to go and start working with baseball players, the first thing I'm gonna do during that needs analysis, looking at the mechanics, the planes of motion, bioenergetics, the injuries, I'm gonna see and observe what they're doing. I'm taking notes. It's a scientific process. If I notice everyone is warming up with a donut and it is top heavy, it's greater than 10 to 12%, as research suggests, it's not gonna do much. I'm gonna take them aside and say, hey, here's my challenge for you. If you want to improve your bat speed, the next time that we're up by 10 runs or down by 10 runs, or one at bat in practice, I want you to try not using the ring and try doing it my way. And we're gonna check out you know, 20 attempts to see what happens because the psychological component is so important. If you tell someone you're wrong, now they have this, you know, a bunch of ants in their head, they're gonna be frustrated. They're not going to be emotionally in that positive state or that game flow of which they're normally in. So it's gonna be adjusted and probably for the most part, it's gonna be a negative experience. So you have to be creative on how you implement what the science says. Just like if I was working out with someone who's squatting 400 pounds and their range of motion isn't ass to the grass, and I come in and say, Oh, you're doing it wrong, you have to go ass to the grass. And he goes ass to the grass and he hurts himself. Who hurt him? I did by giving the recommendation of going ass of the grass. How I would approach that scenario, I would drop it to 30% of what he's capable of, or she, 100 pounds, 135, and I would go super slow down and super slow up, changing the tempo, letting them know that this is not gonna be challenging. We're getting into a range of motion you haven't experienced before. You could be pretty damn sore in the next couple of days because you haven't taken the muscles through the full length. We're gonna do one set, four or five reps. We're not going to volitional fatigue. That's how I would approach that lifter. If that was a potential client, I would do the same thing. I call it eagle lifting. I don't say, stop doing that. You're gonna hurt yourself. Do it my way. I'm the trainer, I'm smart. No, I have them do their set with quote unquote bad form. I drop it significantly and take them through the full range so they can experience it. That's that psychological aspect that's so important, as the researchers were suggesting. So I would be working with my team and say, hey, this is what the current evidence supports. Do your routine. I don't want you to get out of that. But try this approach in the following scenarios. Maybe I talk to the coach and say, hey, can we just have one trial run, one extra inning where everyone doesn't use a ring or that heavier load just to see what happens. You could take some of the shitty players, the ones that aren't playing regularly, and test it on them first. In Shoe Dog, my favorite book, also watched a movie, which I thought was pretty damn good as well, going over how they recruited Jordan Ayer. Phil Knight talks about when he was running at Oregon, he wasn't a top miler. He was still running pretty impressive miles, I believe significantly in like the low fours. Don't quote me on that one, but he wasn't the top three. He was a quote unquote scrub. And I love it in the book. Listen to the audio because it's just great. I love everything about that. I read and listen to it at least once a year. And he talks about how, oh, you know, I'm a slow miler and he's just cranking out four or five minute miles. The world record in the mile 343. So when you're comparing it to that, yeah, Phil sucked. But overall, he wasn't terrible. He's still running at Oregon, one of the best track schools in the world. Bill Bowerman was his coach and he would experiment on Phil. He would fuck around with the shoes, and that's how he actually came up with the Nike shoes because he was always experimenting, but he was doing it with the shitty athletes. Quote unquote shitty, don't take offense to that. So you could do the same thing if you were a strength coach in that environment. Or if you're a coach listening to this, you could experiment with some of your players who maybe who aren't batting 300 and cranking out homers right and left. Work with some of the experimental ones like Phil and Bill Bowerman did. So if you like this, let me know. Always appreciate feedback, trying to improve the podcast. We want to get into that top 10 because trainers need to know there's quality information. And it's not just about peptides and TRT and all their longevity bullshit today. It's stuff that will help you improve as a trainer and coach, business skills, people skills, assessment skills. We're going to be out in Toronto, as I said, May 1st and 2nd, April 17th and 18th in Chicago. We will be in Miami and Austin. We will be back in Southern California in May, the 15th and 16th, excited to help trainers level up. DM us at ShowUpFitness on Instagram or info at showupfitness.com if you want me to send you the link to sign up for the seminars. And remember, fast bat velocity is better than slow bat velocity and keep showing up.