4 Reasons why hitting a major-league fastball is considered to be one of the most visually demanding tasks in sport

Ever wonder where you stack up against the Major’s?  Invite 4Sight iCare (815-915-4047) out to test you and your team (for FREE) with the exact same portable equipment used on minor and major league players associated with the Boston Red Sox, LA Dodgers, and Colorado Rockies.  Best of all the database compares your score to the pro level!

Batting in baseball is much more difficult than the statistics would have us believe (30% success rate is a fantastic batting average), and nothing is harder to accomplish than making contact with a 95 MPH fastball.  Major league teams understand that you need to develop great physical attributes and coordination, great baseball mechanics, and great visual skills to perform at the pro level.  That’s why the database of players is growing so rapidly; the pro’s are hiring eye care professionals that specialize in sports vision to assess and train their players’ visual skills:

1. Visual Acuity sharper than 20/20.  The average pro has 20/12 vision; this means they can see the detail on a baseball 8 feet sooner than someone who has normal 20/20 vision.  If you see the ball better and sooner you can decide to swing sooner, and when it takes 434 milliseconds to go from the pitcher’s hand to the catcher’s glove 8 feet is a huge advantage.  See the visual demands in time and distance here, brought to you by Zeavision.
2. Dynamic Visual Acuity to see the ball in flight.  You don’t just need great vision on a static object.  Because the ball is moving you need to be able to track it and see the ball in flight.
3. Contrast Sensitivity and visual processing speed.  Seeing the ball’s rotational spin can help you to predict the pitch as it is being released from the pitcher’s hand.  Careful study of the different pitches and their appearance combined with trained visual skills can improve your odds because if you know it’s a fastball you’ll know when to swing.
4. Focus and attention to detail.  Slow the game down with your mind by speeding up your cognitive skills and improving your mental focus on the task at hand.  After all, if you blink you’ll lose about 400 milliseconds on average, and that’s all but 34 ms of the time it takes for a 95 MPH pitch to become a called strike.  Using systems like Neurotracker to improve your awareness and attention can train you to pick up other visual cues while you are focused on that single most important object, the baseball.  Training your eyes and brain to perform at a pro level is only a phone call away (815-915-4047).