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COMPARISON OF TIMING METHOD AND START TECHNIQUES FOR BASE STEALING AMONG DIVISION II BASEBALL PLAYERS

Abstract

Cheryl Matthews, Carson Bowers, Clayton Nicks, Kate Early, Brian Tyo. Columbus State University, Columbus, GA.

BACKGROUND: Start technique for base stealing in baseball has the potential to improve steal times and therefore positively effect offensive scoring. In addition, the method of timing (manual versus electronic) may influence accuracy of steal times. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of timing method (handheld stopwatch [SW] or electronic [ET]) and start techniques (crossover step [CS], drop-step [DS], jab-step [JS]) on stolen base time. METHODS: Anthropometrics were assessed on day 1 in 15 Division II college baseball player’s (age 20.7 ±1.4y; height 1.78 ±0.1m; body mass 85.1 ±12.7kg; body fat 16.1 ±6.1%). On days 2-4, participants ran 3 sprints trials (19m) for each start technique with times for the best trial recorded. Electronic timing gates were placed 5m and 14m beyond the starting line to record a 5m split time and total time, and the 5m to 14m split time was calculated (total time - 5m split). Handheld stopwatches were also used to record a total time. RESULTS: The SW total time was significantly faster than ET for CS (2.8±0.2s vs. 2.9±0.1s, p=0.03), but slower for the JS (3.1±0.2s vs. 2.9±0.1s, p<0.001). Within the SW method, total time was significantly different among start techniques, with CS having the fastest total time (p<.001). Within ET, there were no differences among start techniques (p=0.38). However, CS was significantly faster at the 5m to 14m split compared to JS (p=.003) and DS (p=0.01). At the 5m split, JS was faster than CS (p=0.03). CONCLUSION: Using a handheld SW can impact the accuracy of steal time and potentially be misleading, suggesting the ET may be better to assess base stealing in baseball players. Since the CS was faster for the 5m to 14m split, this may indicate improved running efficiency when using this technique. Coming off the start faster (JS) may be strategically beneficial; however, this advantage must be maintained throughout the stolen base time to be practical.

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