Abstract
Caffeine is one of the most widely used drugs among athletes seeking an advantage over opponents. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of caffeine on velocity and accuracy for baseball pitchers. METHODS: Subjects consisted of 20 pitchers from the Texas Lutheran Baseball team. After a warmup, participants threw 10 fastballs. A radar gun that measured miles per hour was used to determine velocity. Only the 5 fastest pitches were used in the data calculations. Strikes and balls were also calculated to determine accuracy. On a different day, subjects were either given a caffeine pill or a placebo and retested. RESULTS: The mean change in accuracy from pretest to post test in the placebo group was .06 with a standard deviation of .21. The mean change in accuracy in the caffeine group was .02 with a standard deviation of .29. A two-sample test for accuracy yielded a t stat of .34, a t critical of 2.26 and a p value of .74. For velocity, the mean change was -.28 for the placebo group with a standard deviation of 2.03. The mean change for the caffeine group was -.42 with a standard deviation of 1.26. The two-sample t test for velocity yielded a t stat of .19, a t critical of 2.26, and a p value of .85. CONCLUSION: The results showed that caffeine made no significant difference in the velocity or accuracy of pitches. While baseball players often take caffeine to provide an advantage in velocity and accuracy, it is possible that the advantage is more psychological as opposed to physiological.
Recommended Citation
Montegrande, Patrick; Cones, Trevor; and Helbig, Casi
(2025)
"The Effect of Caffeine on Velocity and Accuracy in Collegiate Baseball Pitchers,"
International Journal of Exercise Science: Conference Proceedings: Vol. 2:
Iss.
17, Article 99.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/ijesab/vol2/iss17/99
