Coco Crisp. Baseball Player Mechanics Analysis - Oakland A’s


The analysis of some aspects of the technique can help to explain the athlete’s performance, injuries and his/her future possibilities. With the information that we present in this blog I’m not intended to replace a scientifically organized evaluation process, but just to play with the available information.

Mr. Crisp had recurrent visits to DL since 2008 because strains in his left hamstring. Even though he did not loose play time, there are several reports over the years indicating soreness in his knees. Analyzing his running technique we can observe that he lands with the external aspect of his left foot in front of the hip loading internally his knee and also creating stopping forces that usually overloads the knee’s structure, hamstrings and the groin area. During the flying phase the right foot turns out before the landing, to contact the ground also with the external aspect of the foot. During stance phase his right knee (because the wrong placement of the foot in the ground) turns outwards creating also inconvenient loads. This position makes him to push-off with his foot in angle in relation to the direction of running, stressing again his leg and also decreasing his efficiency and, therefore, his possibility of generating speed.
Lack of knee extension. Limited efficiency.
Landing with external aspect of the foot. Foot pointing out.
Foot pointing out sending the knee outwards.
Pushing-off with the foot in a wrong angle.

Landing with the outside aspect of the foot. Knee internal compression.


While batting, his right foot remains in a constant ground-contact position (check the angle of the foot in relation to his hip over the time of batting). This lack of rotation of the foot creates a torque at the knee level that increases stress and risk of damage of the joint structure. His lower back is overarching, what usually increase risk of back pain.

Initial foot and knee position
Hips start rotation while the left foot remains static
Hips keeps rotating while the left foot remains in place
Ball contacted the bat and still the left foot remains in its initial possition
At this point the left foot remains with the initial angle however placing all the weight at its edge creating an external rotation of the knee
End of the movement and the left foot keeps the initial angle in relation to the lower leg and ground

Conclusions: Overall his right knee is under high risk of overuse injury (running and batting). His left leg, because his history of DL also has a high risk of different overuse injuries. His lower back is moderately under risk of overuse injury.

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