Advanced Assessments at KPI: What They Are & Why They Matter

Reserve Your Advanced Assessment at KPI Before the Summer Training Period Begins

Most athletes train hard.

They go to practice, lift, throw, and hit. They’re doing the work.

But a lot of that work is based on what they’ve been told, what they see online, or what feels right in the moment.

The problem is, they don’t always know if it’s the right work for them, or what’s actually limiting their performance.

At KPI, we start by assessing the athlete.

We take a detailed look at how they are built, how they produce force, and how that shows up in the batters box or on the mound.

This gives us a clear picture of where they are right now and what actually needs attention.

What The Advanced Assessment Is

The Advanced Assessment is a full snapshot of the athlete on that day.

We pull together everything we measure into one place.

This gives us a clear picture of:

What the athlete does well
Where they’re limited
What is most likely affecting performance
Where they compare within KPI athlete data

From there, we can set clear priorities.

Not everything needs to be addressed at once. We focus on the areas that will have the biggest impact based on what the data shows.

Physical Assessment

We start with how the athlete is built.

This includes mobility, range of motion, joint function, and movement quality. We also look at injury history, since past issues often show up in how the body moves today.

You can think of this as the frame of the car.

If the frame isn’t stable or doesn’t move well, everything built on top of it is affected. Strength, Mechanics, and Performance all rely on this foundation.

This gives us a clear picture of what the athlete’s body is capable of.

If something is limited here, it will show up later. It might show up as:
reduced velocity on the mound, loss of bat speed at the plate, or inconsistent movement patterns.

From there, we can identify what needs to be addressed before expecting performance to improve.

Strength Assessment

Once we understand how the body is built, we look at how the athlete produces force.

This is where we use tools like Hawkins Force Plates and Proteus to measure how much force the athlete can create, how quickly they can produce it, and how well they can transfer it.

We’re looking at things like force, power, impulse, reactive strength and rotational strength.

This gives us a clear picture of how strength actually shows up.

A common issue is that strength in the weight room doesn’t always transfer to performance.

An athlete might be strong, but if they can’t apply that force in the right direction or at the right time, it won’t show up in their swing or on the mound.

This is where that gap becomes clear.

If force production or transfer is limited, it will show up as lower velocity, reduced bat speed, or inefficient movement patterns.

From there, we can identify whether the athlete needs to build more strength, improve how they use it, or both.

Pitching Assessment

Once we finish the physical and strength testing, we move into the pitching assessment. This is where we see how everything shows up on the mound.
We start with ArmCare to get a closer look at the arm. This gives us more detail on arm strength and range of motion before the athlete throws.

From there, the athlete goes through a bullpen.

During the bullpen, we’re collecting pitch data with TrackMan and capturing video from multiple angles, including high-speed video.
We’re looking at two main areas:

How they move on the mound
How the athlete moves down the mound, transfers energy, and sequences everything together. We tie this back to the physical and strength assessments to see why they move the way they do and where they can improve.
Their pitch shapes on Trackman
TrackMan shows us exactly how the pitch is moving. From there, we can see if the pitch shapes are where they need to be or where they need to improve. If needed, we can adjust grips or make small changes to how the pitch is being thrown.

From there, we can identify what needs to be addressed and where to focus the athletes training.

Newt Force Upgrade ($400) – KPI is one of only the only facilities in the nation, and only on the West Coast, that uses a Newt Force Mound. The Newt Force Mound is the most exclusive piece of technology in baseball. KPI can measure force production and timing at every aspect of the pitching delivery. Each Newt Force Upgrade also receives a 12-week, full customized medicine ball and water bag training program based on the Newt Force assessment

Hitting Assessment

For hitters, we build off the physical and strength assessments and look at how everything shows up in the swing.

We start by looking at how the athlete moves.

This includes tee work with SwingAI tracking body movement in real time, along with video. From there, the athlete goes through a series of drills that help us see how they move under different constraints.
This gives us a better idea of how the swing is built and where there may be limitations.

From there, the athlete moves into more game-like swings.

We use Blast to track swing metrics and HitTrax to measure ball flight, including exit velocity and quality of contact.
We’re looking at two main areas:

How they move in the swing
How the athlete builds energy, controls their weight shift, and gets to the contact point. We also connect this back to what we saw in the physical and strength assessments to understand why they move the way they do.
Their contact and ball flight
Exit velocity, launch angle, and point of contact tell us how the ball is coming off the bat and how the swing is producing it.

This gives us a clear picture of how the athlete is moving and what is actually affecting performance at the plate.

From there, we can identify what needs to be addressed and where to focus the athletes training.