Player Spotlight: Brayden Moore (November 2021)

november 21 player spotlight brayden moore

Brayden is in year 2 working with Coach Diego Gonzalez during the Zone It Up Hitting Program, and he’s made some serious adjustments - in particular, to his swing path and lead leg mechanics (look at the difference between the 2 photos!)

  • When your lead foot returns to the ground, you want it to be in flexion/“bent” before transitioning into extension, or when the leg straightens out. This is a key indicator that your body is moving in the appropriate sequence, and transferring energy efficiently right from your body’s movements into bat-ball contact

He impressively added ~12mph on balls hit with a LA between 15° and 30°, aka line drives and well-hit fly balls. That’s +22.7% !

His actual max exit velocity over this period rose to 

- 66.2 mph/-17°/9 ft

but I decided not to call that his “max exit velocity” for this exercise, and I want to explain why:

  • Players: trying to understand what your exit velocity means can be misleading and frustrating. I hear it all the time - either:
    • “I hit it hard, but they caught it!”, or
    • “I CRUSHED that ball - why wasn’t my exit velocity higher?”

 

  • Brayden’s actual max exit velocity mph says more about his raw force production and strength, and less about his actual swing improvements, which we can see with our eyes in the video, backed by keeping the launch angle range constant when comparing swings