How Neuroscience Plays a Role in Infield Development
On my recent 20 hour drive from Colorado to California I listened to the audiobook The Performance Cortex: How Neuroscience is Redefining Athletic Genius, recommended by Rob Riggins.
In an early chapter, the author debunks one of the most common sayings ,“Watch the ball” as a myth after describing a study conducted on a MiLBer and finding the inability to track a pitch after the ~5ft range. The hitter then from what they have observed, makes a prediction to then match the plane of the pitch with where they believe the pitch will be.
Later on the book there was another study where a batter had an EEG on, and the researcher examined data from the brain activity and compared output from the decision process similar to if a magician were to see a stack of playing cards. Diving a little deeper, what is actually happening behind what we would say is muscle memory, are multiple motor neurons firing sending signals to the CNS and from there to limbs to complete a task. So just as you would normally make a right at a stop sign, you would first ease on the brake until you are at a complete stop, look left, use a common hand to turn the wheel and step on the gas, you send many signals to complete that task and become extremely proficient at completing that task because you have done that multiple times. The reason you become so proficient at that task is because the more times you complete it, there is then a higher rate of those motor neurons signal being sent to the CNS and to those signals to the limbs become stronger.
These chapters have shaped the way I think about an infielders training economy into two sections. The first would be motor control or how to move. This could be stationary work such as first steps, route to the ball, fielding method, feet work while throwing, etc. I have explained to my fielders how I am trying to teach them or provide tools while they learn the various movements to build their toolset and they have to decide in game which tools they want to use on a groundball. This leads me to the second section into shaping their predictive model, which tools they want to use on a groundball. Sometime in 2018–2019 I was lucky to attend an ABCA camp that Kai Correa took part in at Metro State University in Denver, CO. Kai being infield minded and created content while at UNC is someone that I have looked up to since I started my coaching career. A segment he presented was on variability training. He pulled out a bag with a good amount of balls that varied in shapes, sizes and weight. At the time I understood what he was teaching but didn’t necessarily understand the why. In a previous blog post I explain why infielders should be taught ball spin. Because of this book I am doubling down and believe teaching batted ball spin helps infielders recognize how a ball will move when hit a certain way. This is where Kai’s variability training comes into play. At the moment there are a limited amount of tools that help truly replicate a batted ball but while adding balls that vary in shapes, sizes and weights, this allows an infielder to systematically recognize how a ball moves with different speeds and spin and will strengthen the motor neuron connection on how their body needs to compensate during a groundball.
