After performance enhancing drugs were almost eradicated from baseball in the early 2000s, far fewer people were hitting home runs – but this trend has reversed.
Research from Penn State University looked in to the trend of baseball players skewing increasingly heavier than in previous decades. Using self-reported heights and weights, researchers found that 70% of players between 1991 and 2015 had BMIs that classified them as overweight or obese, but before this, the average was between 30 and 40%.
Biological Sciences and Medicine applicants should note the flaw with using BMI as a measure of obesity, as by itself, you cannot determine the distribution of muscle versus fat. Nevertheless, it does make logical sense that a heavier weight behind a hit will lead to the ball being propelled further.
Physics students will be familiar with the formula k=(1/2)mv2 where m is the mass of the system and v is the velocity. In theory, a heavier batter will therefore hit the ball further than a smaller man with the same strength. However, there are many variables to consider including momentum and power which Natural Sciences (P) and Mathematics applicants would do well to investigate further.
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