Consideration of Sports Vision Training for Baseball Hitters

When watching a baseball player hit, it is clear that vision is a dominant sensory system. The visual skills of a baseball player go beyond static visual acuity (ability to see clearly in a non-moving position while looking at a nonmoving object); hitters must use their vision dynamically. These dynamic visual skills include stereo acuity (depth perception), visual attention, eye movements, dynamic visual acuity (ability to identify objects moving horizontally or vertically at specific velocities), contrast sensitivity (being able to pick a target out of a background), kinetic visual acuity (ability to identify approaching objects at specific velocities), choice reaction time, peripheral vision, recognition time, visual direction, and anticipation (7,9,10,11). Researchers have determined that baseball players have better dynamic visual acuity, stereo acuity, and contrast sensitivity than those who do not play baseball (10,16).