{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,16]],"date-time":"2026-06-16T10:26:41Z","timestamp":1781605601117,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":20,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]],"date-time":"2025-10-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1760659200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["JP22K11644"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP22K11644"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001691","name":"Japan Society for the Promotion of Science","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["JP22K17739"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["JP22K17739"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001691","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sports"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Pitch selection\u2014the ability to discriminate balls from strikes\u2014is fundamental to baseball batting success. This study examined whether this ability relates to executive function and batting performance in collegiate players. Furthermore, this ability may be supported by brain functions such as executive functions, and the importance of Pitch Selection has long been considered. However, this ability has not yet been quantified, and there are no training methods for pitch selection. 14 male collegiate baseball players (age: 20.6 \u00b1 1.0 years, first division university league) completed a virtual reality pitch selection task and spatial Stroop task. Methods included virtual reality pitch selection assessment, spatial Stroop task, and official batting statistics from league play. The results showed a significant positive relationship between the pitch selection task and hitting performance, such as the on-base percentage (r = 0.57, p &lt; 0.05) and walk percentage (r = 0.82, p &lt; 0.05). Furthermore, a significant negative correlation was found between the vertical Stroop task reaction time and the percentage of correct strikes among the pitch selection ability tasks (r = \u22120.67, p &lt; 0.05). Our mediation analysis revealed that both pitch selection ability and executive function independently contribute to batting performance metrics, particularly the walk percentage, rather than executive function influencing performance by enhancing pitch selection ability. These results suggest that pitch selection ability is related to the hitting performance of baseball players and that executive function may play an important role in the performance of pitch selection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sports13100367","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]],"date-time":"2025-10-17T07:33:50Z","timestamp":1760686430000},"page":"367","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Pitch Selection Ability and Spatial Executive Function Independently Predict Baseball Batting Performance"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9268-2904","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yoshitaka","family":"Morishita","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"},{"name":"Faculty of Human Sciences, Osaka University of Economics, Osaka 533-8533, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1739-2023","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Genta","family":"Ochi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute for Human Movement and Medical Sciences, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"},{"name":"Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Daiki","family":"Takahashi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Kodai","family":"Kato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Wataru","family":"Uchiyama","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Niigata Sogo Gakuen Educational Corporation, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yasuyuki","family":"Nishihara","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health and Sports, Niigata University of Health and Welfare, Niigata 950-3198, Japan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Morgenstern, L. (2024, December 01). The Most Normal Pitches in Baseball: Fastball Edition. Available online: https:\/\/blogs.fangraphs.com\/the-most-normal-pitches-in-baseball-fastball-edition\/."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuroimage.2015.08.028","article-title":"Knowing when not to swing: EEG evidence that enhanced perception\u2013action coupling underlies baseball batter expertise","volume":"123","author":"Muraskin","year":"2015","journal-title":"NeuroImage"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1016\/j.brainres.2007.10.096","article-title":"Effects of stimulus\u2013response compatibility in mediating expert performance in baseball players","volume":"1189","author":"Nakamoto","year":"2008","journal-title":"Brain Res."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"23","DOI":"10.1016\/j.bandc.2012.04.004","article-title":"Experts in fast-ball sports reduce anticipation timing cost by developing inhibitory control","volume":"80","author":"Nakamoto","year":"2012","journal-title":"Brain Cogn."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"49","article-title":"The Relationship Between Visual Anticipation and Baseball Batting Game Statistics","volume":"28","author":"Fadde","year":"2015","journal-title":"J. Appl. Sport Psychol."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1167\/jov.21.3.3","article-title":"Visuomotor predictors of batting performance in baseball players","volume":"21","author":"Chen","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Vis."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1123\/jsep.2022-0181","article-title":"The relationships between neural activity and in-game hitting performance in baseball","volume":"45","author":"Themanson","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Sport Exerc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_8","first-page":"23","article-title":"The Relationship between Cognition, Preseason Hitting Assessments, and In-Game Batting Performance in Collegiate Baseball and Softball Players","volume":"16","author":"Carrol","year":"2023","journal-title":"Int. J. Exerc. Sci."},{"key":"ref_9","unstructured":"MLB Advanced Media (2024, December 01). Glossary. Available online: https:\/\/www.mlb.com\/glossary."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2257","DOI":"10.3758\/s13414-020-01993-5","article-title":"Alertness and cognitive control: Interactions in the spatial Stroop task","volume":"82","author":"Schneider","year":"2020","journal-title":"Atten. Percept. Psychophys."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3118","DOI":"10.3758\/s13428-021-01776-2","article-title":"Open Lab: A web application for running and sharing online experiments","volume":"54","author":"Shevchenko","year":"2020","journal-title":"Behav. Res. Methods"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3719","DOI":"10.1007\/s00421-024-05571-7","article-title":"Hair cortisol is a physiological indicator of training stress for female footballers","volume":"124","author":"Sato","year":"2024","journal-title":"Eur. J. Appl. Physiol."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Higuchi, T., Nagami, T., Nakata, H., Watanabe, M., Isaka, T., and Kanosue, K. (2016). Contribution of Visual Information about Ball Trajectory to Baseball Hitting Accuracy. PLoS ONE, 11.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0148498"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"542","DOI":"10.1111\/1467-9280.00495","article-title":"\u201cMarkov at the bat\u201d: A model of cognitive processing in baseball batters","volume":"13","author":"Gray","year":"2002","journal-title":"Psychol. Sci."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"622","DOI":"10.1119\/1.1634965","article-title":"Center of percussion of hand-held implements","volume":"72","author":"Cross","year":"2004","journal-title":"Am. J. Phys."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Nasu, D., Yamaguchi, M., Kobayashi, A., Saijo, N., Kashino, M., and Kimura, T. (2020). Behavioral Measures in a Cognitive-Motor Batting Task Explain Real Game Performance of Top Athletes. Front. Sports Act. Living, 2.","DOI":"10.3389\/fspor.2020.00055"},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"60","DOI":"10.1123\/jsep.29.1.60","article-title":"Effects of focus of attention on baseball batting performance in players of differing skill levels","volume":"29","author":"Castaneda","year":"2007","journal-title":"J. Sport Exerc. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"557","DOI":"10.1097\/OPX.0000000000001239","article-title":"The Hand-eye Coordination of Professional Baseball Players: The Relationship to Batting","volume":"95","author":"Laby","year":"2018","journal-title":"Optom. Optom. Vis. Sci."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Murray, N.P., Lawton, J., Rider, P., Harris, N., and Hunfalvay, M. (2021). Oculomotor Behavior Predict Professional Cricket Batting and Bowling Performance. Front. Hum. Neurosci., 15.","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2021.768585"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Hodgson, T.L., Ezard, G., and Hermens, F. (2019). Eye Movements in Neuropsychological Tasks. Processes of Visuospatial Attention and Working Memory, Springer International Publishing.","DOI":"10.1007\/7854_2019_98"}],"container-title":["Sports"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4663\/13\/10\/367\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]],"date-time":"2025-10-17T07:54:39Z","timestamp":1760687679000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2075-4663\/13\/10\/367"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]]},"references-count":20,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,10]]}},"alternative-id":["sports13100367"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/sports13100367","relation":{"has-preprint":[{"id-type":"doi","id":"10.31234\/osf.io\/x4mjy","asserted-by":"object"}]},"ISSN":["2075-4663"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2075-4663","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,17]]}}}