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By Bill Brown

Baseball is a sport that requires a set of skills, including the ability to pitch or throw, swing a bat, catch the ball, and sprint. Professional baseball players are usually capable of performing any of these skills with little effort. Depending on their role, they may develop and perfect any skill, which eventually defines their on-field performances. For example, Babe Ruth’s batting record remains unrivaled, while Nolan Ryan’s pitching record was hailed the world over.

Baseball players must have excellent visual abilities to perform at the top level. Although several visual skills are needed to play the game effectively, certain visual skills are unique to particular aspects of the game. For instance, the visual skills required for batting vary from those required for pitching, catching, and running around the bases.

What visual skills are needed the most for the best performance?

• Eye tracking and eye focusing.
• Anticipation
• Visual concentration
• Eye teaming
• Visualization
• Dynamic visual acuity
• Visual reaction
• Peripheral awareness
• Eye-hand coordination

Photo by Rachel Barkdoll on Unsplash

Eye Tracking and Focusing

One of the essential skills to learn for baseball is eye-tracking and focusing, or the ability to keep both eyes functioning in tandem when tracking a quickly moving ball. You’ll be a stronger and more accurate fielder/hitter if you can keep your eyes fixed on the ball right up to the point of contact. The eyes will lead the head, body, and hands out of place if you take your eyes off the ball before hitting it with the bat, or before it’s in your glove.

Read More: How To Play Baseball With Glasses

Anticipation

The visual system gives a person the information they need to act and the information they need to know when to act. Baseball, like many other dynamic sports, relies heavily on timing to perform well.

In baseball, the ability to predict the exact moment to swing the bat can be as much a function of your eye alignment and depth perception as it is of your bat-swinging ability. Your brain perceives the ball at a far longer distance than it is if your eyes are not aimed precisely at where the ball is. You will swing earlier if you consider the ball to be nearer and swing late if you feel the ball is farther forward. 

Visual Concentration

With distracting variables around your visual field, visual concentration aids in maintaining focus on a particular object or game. This skill helps you maintain concentration throughout the game; regardless of how animated the fans are in the field, a player is attempting to steal a base while you are about to pitch the ball, or the scoreboard timer is fast counting down towards the final whistle.

Even if the crowds are loud and distracting, visual attention will help you remain focused on the game.

Eye Teaming

Your understanding of where the ball is in free space, as well as the timing of your movements, can be affected by eye alignment. If the eyes are aimed in front of the ball, an early swing, a short ball, or a glove placed in front of the ball may result; if the eyes are aimed behind the ball, a late swing, an overthrown ball, or a glove placed too far forward may result. Players with bad eye coordination are more likely to have inconsistent results in both cases.

Photo by Jakob Rosen on Unsplash

Visualization

Visualization and imagination go hand in hand. They help you maintain a sense of positivity as you imagine yourself performing well and focusing on something else at the same time. In your imagination, visualizing a movement trains your muscles to execute the specific movement. According to studies, the same parts of the brain that light up during a performance light up when you visualize the performance.

Dynamic Visual Acuity

With dynamic visual acuity, you can see moving objects better. This ability is crucial in baseball because it allows you to see the ball, your teammates, and opponents clearly while you are all in motion.

Visual Reaction

This is the time it takes for the brain to interpret visual data, make a decision, and initiate the appropriate physical response. It is the filler between the “read and react.” To put it another way, once we’ve finished reading the play, we must process what we’ve seen and make a decision so that we can respond, hopefully effectively and quickly. Increased decision-making speed and, as a result, the initiation of a player’s physical actions can result in quicker and more successful responses.

Peripheral Awareness

You can see all around you without turning your head, thanks to your peripheral vision. It is an essential skill in baseball as it allows you to ‘see’ the entire game, including the movement of the ball and that of other players on the field.

Eye-Hand Coordination

A complete baseball player needs to have immense eye-hand coordination skills. This is where a good player is defined, as it is a combination of a series of critical skills. It all revolves around swinging a bat at a ball, both of which are round, and making contact with the surrounding area in a split second. Whether the ball is in the air or on the turf, this ability is essential for catching and fielding it.

Conclusion

A strong combination of all the above skills or mastery of one or two can be helpful to baseball players if they need to perform at optimum levels. Vision training offered by professionals can turn things around, leading to the improvement of batting practices, which form the core of baseball.

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