Listen to Dr. Fadde- Professor and Chief Science Officer for gameSense Sports in Podcasts

Listen to Dr. Fadde- Professor and Chief Science Officer for gameSense Sports from Ahead Of The Curve with Jonathan Gelnar in Podcasts.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ahead-of-the-curve-with-jonathan-gelnar/id1256849644?i=1000431745679

Summary:

In this episode of Ahead of the Curve, I welcome Dr. Peter Fadde, pitch recognition expert, Chief Officer and Co-Founder of gameSense, and Associate Professor of Learning Systems Design & Technology at Southern Illinois University. Dr. Peter Fadde breaks down the science of pitch recognition and the valuable methods of training hitters to achieve this skill. Coach Sherman also explains occlusion training, and ways that his pitch recognition product at gameSense is preparing players and coaches to implement it into their training regimens. 

Show Notes:

• Guest: Dr. Peter Fadde, Chief Officer and Co-Founder of gameSense, and Associate Professor of Learning Systems Design & Technology at Southern Illinois University

Dr. Fadde explains the benefits of occlusion training

Dillan Lawson's presentation at Slugfest used a soccer player kicking a goal with the lights turned off 2/3 of the way to teach occlusion training

What is "pitch recognition" and how is it different from "plate discipline?"

Dr. Fadde's occlusion training offers the batter's view point facing the pitcher with a maximum possible score of 250

Video cued tee work is tee work that includes the timing off of the pitcher

Hitting baseballs is not like hitting golf balls or baseballs off of a tee

Vision training focuses on visual skills like dynamic tracking, acuity, peripheral vision, and focus

Pitch recognition should help hitters get the feel of the pitcher's wind-up

If you aren't looking at a pitcher, then it isn't really pitch recognition

Live drills for hitters to call out "yes" or "no" on a particular pitch type before the ball hits the catcher's mitt strengthens pitch recognition

The best form of pitch recognition is standing in the bullpen

Mike Schmidt wrote a fantastic books on hitting

Attention occlusion drills should keep the batter focusing on the pitcher, not the catcher

3 Key Points:

1.    Pitch recognition is the perceptual skill of making an actionable meaning out of the pitch you see.

 Your eyes can't track pitch speeds over 83 miles an hour all the way into the bat.
 Visualize the pitcher. Visualize the pitch. Visualize hitting that pitch.

"Human beings, and other animals, can learn incredible things with repetition, immediate feedback, and progressive difficulty." - Dr. Peter Fadde (5:04)

"When we say, 'somebody has a great instinct for it,' well, that's where we now say, 'ok, let's try to figure out exactly what that is.'" - Dr. Peter Fadde (6:32)

"Some guys like to have success at every level and build it up. And some guys just like to identify the wall they want to go through and then start smacking it." - Dr. Peter Fadde (14:41)

"The best way to practice recognizing pitches is to look at pitches." - Dr. Peter Fadde (30:56)

"A softball hitter really focusing on and getting good at pitch recognition could be looking at at a 20 or 25% improvement." - Dr. Peter Fadde (51:20)

Tweetable Quotes:

• "If you can test it, you can train it." - Dr. Peter Fadde (4:53)

Resources Mentioned: