Why Every Young Athlete Needs Baseline Testing ⚾🥎 | Exit Velo, Arm Strength & More

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Ever wondered how to truly measure your child's athletic progress beyond game scores or batting averages? The answer lies in baseline data – a powerful but often overlooked tool that transforms how young athletes develop their baseball and softball skills.

In this eye-opening episode, we dive into why metrics matter for young players aged 10-18. Beyond just numbers on a page, baseline measurements like exit velocity, throwing speed, and agility times create a roadmap for athletic development that benefits players, coaches, and parents alike. These aren't arbitrary figures – they're guideposts that college recruiters and scouts actively look for when evaluating talent and projecting future potential.

What makes baseline testing truly transformative is its psychological impact. When young athletes can literally see their progress through improved metrics, it creates a powerful motivation cycle that keeps them engaged during the challenging moments of sports development. Rather than waiting weeks for game performance to reflect their hard work, metrics provide immediate feedback and validation. This visibility builds confidence, creates healthy self-competition, and teaches athletes to connect effort with results – arguably the most valuable lesson sports can offer.

We share practical insights about implementing regular testing (ideally quarterly), documenting progress visually, and using tools like athlete performance planners to track development. For parents and coaches committed to supporting young athletes, this episode provides the framework for informed decision-making about training priorities and realistic developmental expectations. As we emphasize throughout – you can't manage what you don't measure, and measurement is the first step toward mastery. Ready to give your young athlete the competitive edge they deserve? Listen now and discover how data transforms potential into performance.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
why baseline data matters for young baseball and
softball players.
Welcome back to RaisingAthletes.
Raising Athletes, the thingsthat causes all dads to go bald
and moms to buy minivans.
Empowering parents to helptheir kids succeed.
You can't manage what you don'tmeasure.
This is one of the reasons whybaseline data for young athletes

(00:21):
is so very important.
It's important for parents andcoaches to rally behind this to
help give our kids the bestchance they have of being
successful.
They're not going to know whatto do unless they know what to
do.
Now you want to introduce coremetrics, things like exit
velocity, throwing velocity,sprint times, agility metrics.

(00:44):
These are all critical fortracking growth and guiding
training.
Now one of the obviousquestions that a lot of parents
and coaches might have athletesmight have who've never been
introduced to this before iswhat is baseline data?
What are these key metrics foryoung athletes between the ages
of, let's say, 10 and 18 thatthey should be paying attention

(01:07):
to?
So here's just a basic rundown,but I want to encourage all of
you guys who are listening dosome research on this, because
there's a lot of importantinformation out there.
One you've heard it a lot, evenif you've started to listen to
Major League Baseball games.
Over the last few years they'veintroducing this um is exit
velocity and this is thevelocity of the of the baseball

(01:27):
After a hitter makes contact.
Um.
You'll hear things like launchangle.
You'll hear things like aoverhand velocity.
This was something thatmattered publicly to pitchers
but over the last few yearsthey're realizing this.
Data for infielders,outfielders and catchers are
very, very important and there'sa correlation between their

(01:49):
throwing velocity and theirsuccess on the field.
And then there's also thingslike the 5-10-5.
5-10-5 is your agility.
That's starting in the middle.
You're running 5, then 10, then5, and getting that time and,
based on the age and sport ofthat individual, you actually
want to have a certain time.
There are also things likevertical drums, other various

(02:11):
agility drills, overhandthrowing velocities that could
be off of one leg, flat-footed.
There could be things calledlike a run and gun.
All of these things, theymatter.
They matter in providing astarting point for targeted
training for your young athlete.
It also creates measurable goalsfor athletes, but it also helps

(02:32):
to validate progress and effort.
The mental aspect of the game,especially for young athletes,
is often overlooked and isreally, really important.
And these measurable sort ofdata points helps kids to see
where they're at, see theirprogress, and keeps them
motivated to want them to keepon going, which is key for young

(02:54):
skilled athletes.
Now some of the benefits forathletes to create and maintain
and regularly measure thesemetric points for ages and we're
going to be talking about rightaround 10 to 18 years old
that's what I mean when I sayyoung athletes is versus the
developmental impact.
It encourages accountabilityand consistency in training.

(03:16):
It also is going to buildconfidence by showing tangible
progress and it's also going tohelp to identify the weak areas
that are early for maybe evenyou know things like injury
prevention or focus.
But it also motivates athletesby hitting benchmarks.

(03:37):
You heard me mention it before.
I'm probably going to say thata lot.
I love the motivational factor.
When it comes to the advantages,the benefits of participating
in these metric testings, isthat you know training and
practice oftentimes after a longweek is not fun.
It's not the attractive part ofit and sometimes for some kids

(03:58):
it's hard to want to get backout there and hit balls off the
team.
But this little sort of thismetric data is almost like a
mini reward system.
They get to see where they areand if you've ever participated
in anything like this.
These kids get excited forthese things and it keeps them
on the field.
It keeps them to want tocontinue to practice, to

(04:18):
continue to train, to continueto do the hard things.
Because they get to see theresults right away, which is
awesome, because they don't haveto wait for the next game.
They don't have to wait for thework that they're putting in to
translate into the game.
They get to see it right thenand there and it gets them
motivated to just want to keepon training, which is huge,
especially for the youngerathletes.
It's that mental edge, you knowathletes feel more in control

(04:44):
of their growth and it alsoencourages healthy competition
with themselves.
Now there are certain milestonesthat you're going to want to
meet here, and you know we'renot going to necessarily outline
all the milestones for everyage group, for every single
sport, but the point of thispart of the podcast is to bring
your attention to the fact thatkids should be hitting certain

(05:08):
milestones throughout theirathletic journey, and
understanding where they arehelps you and them to understand
what they have to do to get towhere they're going here's like.
One great example is thatpitchers between the ages of
roughly 12 and 17,.
Depending on when a boy hitspuberty, they can add about five

(05:29):
miles an hour to their fastballevery single year.
Understanding where they arehelps you to develop a program
for them to help them hit thatparticular milestone.
These are metrics, data pointsover the course of a few years
that scouts, both on aprofessional level and a college
level, will look for to seewhat Is that athlete hitting

(05:50):
their progressions?
Are they an athlete that arecapable of hitting their
progressions?
It helps them to project datain the future.
Also, you know things that youwant to consider that getting
and documenting this met thesemetrics do is.
You know it helps you answerquestions like what does a 65
mile an hour throwing velocitymean for a 13 year old?

(06:12):
Why is a 70 plus mile an hourexit velocity a target for an
incoming high school freshman?
You know milestones that helpathletes stay on pace with
college level expectations andsome of the key insights here is
understanding that thesemetrics they help players stay

(06:33):
developmentally competitive andit keeps dreams of playing at
the next level, whatever thatmay be, depending on where they
are right now.
Realistic and informed that'swhat we want to do we don't want
to guess and informed.
That's what we want to do.
We don't want to guess.
We don't want to guess.
There's plenty of technologyavailable that enables us to

(06:57):
make educated, informeddecisions about where athletes
are and where they need to be.
There's no reason for anyone toguess anymore.
We need to really start payingattention and allowing our kids
to take advantage of theseopportunities to get metric
testing on a regular basis.
Now there are clear advantagesfor the athletes who participate
in this versus ones that don't.

(07:18):
You can see them on the field.
You can see them at the varioustraining facilities that maybe
your child has participated inor on the teams that your child
is on.
They talk about the data andyou can see the difference in a
child who's really payingattention to it and recording it
and things.
You know books like this andtheir athlete planners on a
regular basis because they'refocused on it.

(07:39):
Now here are some of theadvantages of tracking this
regularly and why consistencyreally matters here, like I said
before.
Number one, it avoids guessworkin training focus.
Number two, it shows growthbeyond performance stats like

(08:04):
batting average or ERA.
Number three, it makes progressvisible even when results maybe
on the field are not showingyet, and that can be a little
discouraging.
This makes progress visible.
Now here's some of the edgethat you know those who

(08:25):
participate in this and thosewho don't have so an edge over
other athletes.
Number one athletes who testregularly.
They make smart trainingdecisions.
Two, and this is just astatement of fact, recruiters
and colleges love athletes whounderstand and own their
development.

(08:46):
Now there's a few things I wantto leave with parents and
coaches that might be listeningto this, some tips as it relates
to this, that I just want youto listen up and consider these
things.
This is something that willhelp your child, help the
players on your particular teamis one is you want to encourage

(09:10):
regular metric testing,quarterly and, at the very least
, biannually.
Two, you want to want to recordand chart progress visually.
A great example and I'vereferenced this in earlier
episodes are athlete performanceplanners.
That's why, like originally, Iwrote this for my kids who are

(09:31):
athletes, who then I I then findtune this in this 200 page
planner and I gave it out to allthe athletes on the teams that
I coach, and now I've made itavailable publicly, where you
can purchase this.
Um, I highly recommend givingyour athletes a tool like this.
That again, when you're gettingmetric tested, allow them to

(09:53):
document it, allow it, allowthem to have forms like this
that they can fill it out andthen they get to see their
progression.
Also, when you have peoplediscussing this stuff with you
whether it be a new trainer, aninstructor, a new coach, a
college recruiter or anythinglike that you have right here
all of the data ready that youcan share.

(10:13):
And my final thoughts is youwant to help kids connect effort
with results.
I can't stress that enough.
Help kids connect effort withresults.
If your child is serious aboutgrowth, effort with results, If
your child is serious aboutgrowth, measurement is the first

(10:35):
step towards mastery.
Thank you guys so much fortuning in to another episode of
Raising Athletes.
We hope that you guys foundvalue.
If you did, do me a favor,share this with someone that you
know that's in the community ofsports baseball and softball
and talk to them about thisparticular subject of having
your child regularly get metrictesting done and encourage them

(10:58):
to start being disciplined andrecording it in planners like
this, because you'll have noidea where your child is going.
Your child will have no ideawhere they're going unless they
know where they're coming from,and this is the one thing that
they have as an advantage overothers to help them get there.
We will see you next time.
Guys, on Raising Athlete, takecare.