One of the main propositions of ecological psychology put forth by JJ Gibson (1979) on motor control is that the environment supplies specifying information for the performer to directly interact with to successfully perform the task. This is particularly useful in the examination and understanding of expert performance in sport where athletes have to face the complex and dynamic challenges that encapsulate everything from the complexity and dynamic nature of their human movement system to the complex and dynamic nature of the environment that they are having to coordinate their movements to. This is no more true than in baseball batting. How is it that elite baseball batters are able to achieve the success that they do? What information are they connecting to in the environment that is enabling them to barrel balls thrown by pitchers who often throw multiple pitches? This study seeks to understand to what extent the pitcher’s kinematics and ball flight information provide specifying information for the control of action for baseball batters.

Baseball batting is one of the most difficult skills to acquire in all of sports. Hitting a baseball under a dynamic and variable spatial time constraint poses a significant coordination challenge. As a result, the use of ball projection machines has become ubiquitous in training in many fastball interceptive sports including baseball batting. Recent research in other sports has brought into question the efficacy of their use and no subsequent study has been conducted in baseball. The following is a research proposal for the examination of the use of ball projection machines effects on baseball batting with regards to facing a live pitcher.