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

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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Chapters

• 0:00 Why Baseline Data Matters
• 1:55 Key Metrics For Young Athletes
• 3:32 Benefits of Metric Testing
• 5:20 Developmental Milestones and Progression
• 8:53 Recording Progress and Final Thoughts

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

why baseline data matters for young baseball and softball players. Welcome back to Raising Athletes. Raising Athletes, the things that causes all dads to go bald and moms to buy minivans. Empowering parents to help their kids succeed. You can't manage what you don't measure. This is one of the reasons why baseline data for young athletes is so very important. It's important for parents and coaches to rally behind this to help give our kids the best chance they have of being successful. They're not going to know what to do unless they know what to do.

Speaker 1: 0:36

Now you want to introduce core metrics, things like exit velocity, throwing velocity, sprint times, agility metrics. These are all critical for tracking growth and guiding training. Now one of the obvious questions that a lot of parents and coaches might have athletes might have who've never been introduced to this before is what is baseline data? What are these key metrics for young athletes between the ages of, let's say, 10 and 18 that they should be paying attention to? So here's just a basic rundown, but I want to encourage all of you guys who are listening do some research on this, because there's a lot of important information out there.

Speaker 1: 1:16

One you've heard it a lot, even if you've started to listen to Major League Baseball games. Over the last few years they've introducing this um is exit velocity and this is the velocity of the of the baseball After a hitter makes contact. Um. You'll hear things like launch angle. You'll hear things like a overhand velocity. This was something that mattered publicly to pitchers but over the last few years they're realizing this. Data for infielders, outfielders and catchers are very, very important and there's a correlation between their throwing velocity and their success on the field. And then there's also things like the 5-10-5. 5-10-5 is your agility. That's starting in the middle. You're running 5, then 10, then 5, and getting that time and, based on the age and sport of that individual, you actually want to have a certain time. There are also things like vertical drums, other various agility drills, overhand throwing velocities that could be off of one leg, flat-footed. There could be things called like a run and gun. All of these things, they matter. They matter in providing a starting point for targeted training for your young athlete.

Speaker 1: 2:28

It also creates measurable goals for athletes, but it also helps to validate progress and effort. The mental aspect of the game, especially for young athletes, is often overlooked and is really, really important. And these measurable sort of data points helps kids to see where they're at, see their progress, and keeps them motivated to want them to keep on going, which is key for young skilled athletes. Now some of the benefits for athletes to create and maintain and regularly measure these metric points for ages and we're going to be talking about right around 10 to 18 years old that's what I mean when I say young athletes is versus the developmental impact. It encourages accountability and consistency in training. It also is going to build confidence by showing tangible progress and it's also going to help to identify the weak areas that are early for maybe even you know things like injury prevention or focus. But it also motivates athletes by hitting benchmarks. You heard me mention it before. I'm probably going to say that a lot. I love the motivational factor.

Speaker 1: 3:43

When it comes to the advantages, the benefits of participating in these metric testings, is that you know training and practice oftentimes after a long week is not fun. It's not the attractive part of it and sometimes for some kids it's hard to want to get back out there and hit balls off the team. But this little sort of this metric data is almost like a mini reward system. They get to see where they are and if you've ever participated in anything like this. These kids get excited for these things and it keeps them on the field. It keeps them to want to continue to practice, to continue to train, to continue to do the hard things. Because they get to see the results right away, which is awesome, because they don't have to wait for the next game. They don't have to wait for the work that they're putting in to translate into the game. They get to see it right then and there and it gets them motivated to just want to keep on training, which is huge, especially for the younger athletes. It's that mental edge, you know athletes feel more in control of their growth and it also encourages healthy competition with themselves.

Speaker 1: 4:50

Now there are certain milestones that you're going to want to meet here, and you know we're not going to necessarily outline all the milestones for every age group, for every single sport, but the point of this part of the podcast is to bring your attention to the fact that kids should be hitting certain milestones throughout their athletic journey, and understanding where they are helps you and them to understand what they have to do to get to where they're going here's like. One great example is that pitchers between the ages of roughly 12 and 17,. Depending on when a boy hits puberty, they can add about five miles an hour to their fastball every single year. Understanding where they are helps you to develop a program for them to help them hit that particular milestone. These are metrics, data points over the course of a few years that scouts, both on a professional level and a college level, will look for to see what Is that athlete hitting their progressions? Are they an athlete that are capable of hitting their progressions? It helps them to project data in the future. Also, you know things that you want to consider that getting and documenting this met these metrics do is. You know it helps you answer questions like what does a 65 mile an hour throwing velocity mean for a 13 year old? Why is a 70 plus mile an hour exit velocity a target for an incoming high school freshman? You know milestones that help athletes stay on pace with college level expectations and some of the key insights here is understanding that these metrics they help players stay developmentally competitive and it keeps dreams of playing at the next level, whatever that may be, depending on where they are right now.

Speaker 1: 6:42

Realistic and informed that's what 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 technology available that enables us to make educated, informed decisions about where athletes are and where they need to be. There's no reason for anyone to guess anymore. We need to really start paying attention and allowing our kids to take advantage of these opportunities to get metric testing on a regular basis.

Speaker 1: 7:12

Now there are clear advantages for the athletes who participate in this versus ones that don't. You can see them on the field. You can see them at the various training facilities that maybe your child has participated in or on the teams that your child is on. They talk about the data and you can see the difference in a child who's really paying attention to it and recording it and things. You know books like this and their athlete planners on a regular basis because they're focused on it. Now here are some of the advantages of tracking this regularly and why consistency really matters here, like I said before. Number one, it avoids guesswork in training focus. Number two, it shows growth beyond performance stats like batting average or ERA. Number three, it makes progress visible even when results maybe on the field are not showing yet, and that can be a little discouraging. This makes progress visible. Now here's some of the edge that you know those who participate in this and those who don't have so an edge over other athletes. Number one athletes who test regularly. They make smart training decisions. Two, and this is just a statement of fact, recruiters and colleges love athletes who understand and own their development.

Speaker 1: 8:46

Now there's a few things I want to leave with parents and coaches that might be listening to this, some tips as it relates to this, that I just want you to listen up and consider these things. This is something that will help your child, help the players on your particular team is one is you want to encourage regular metric testing, quarterly and, at the very least, biannually. Two, you want to want to record and chart progress visually. A great example and I've referenced this in earlier episodes are athlete performance planners. That's why, like originally, I wrote this for my kids who are athletes, who then I I then find tune this in this 200 page planner and I gave it out to all the athletes on the teams that I coach, and now I've made it available publicly, where you can purchase this. Um, I highly recommend giving your athletes a tool like this. That again, when you're getting metric tested, allow them to document it, allow it, allow them to have forms like this that they can fill it out and then they get to see their progression. Also, when you have people discussing this stuff with you whether it be a new trainer, an instructor, a new coach, a college recruiter or anything like that you have right here all of the data ready that you can share.

Speaker 1: 10:13

And my final thoughts is you want to help kids connect effort with results. I can't stress that enough. Help kids connect effort with results. If your child is serious about growth, effort with results, If your child is serious about growth, measurement is the first step towards mastery. Thank you guys so much for tuning in to another episode of Raising Athletes. We hope that you guys found value. If you did, do me a favor, share this with someone that you know that's in the community of sports baseball and softball and talk to them about this particular subject of having your child regularly get metric testing done and encourage them to start being disciplined and recording it in planners like this, because you'll have no idea where your child is going. Your child will have no idea where they're going unless they know where they're coming from, and this is the one thing that they have as an advantage over others to help them get there. We will see you next time. Guys, on Raising Athlete, take care.