Profiles of Subcutaneous Fat in Baseball Players
Yuichi Hirano' and Yoshie Ishida*** D€partment of Sports Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo+* Department of Physical Education, Women's College of Fine Art
Abstract
This study was conducted to describe the profiles of elite baseball players by examining subcutaneous fat and provide the information which may be useful as a point of reference for training. Eight
thicknesses of subcutaneous fat determined via ultrasonic method of the groups of pitchers (n=15),

fielders (n=14), and non-athletic students (n=14) revealed that the highest yalues were observed in thepitchers for all sites measured, while almost the same thickneses were observed between the fielders

and the non-athletic students. With regard to the anatomical distribution of subcutaneous fat, tie
pattern of the pitchers tended to indicate the possibility of more fat stores in uppe. extremity andabdominal sites than those in lower extremity sites compared to the other two groups. From the factthat abdominal site had the greatest variability among eight sites measured, the relationship between
body weight and the thickness on abdominal site was investigated. In the elite baseball players, theincrease in body weight was accompanied by the increas€ in the subcutaneous fat on abdominal site.
As a reference point for training, two points were recommendedi I) the increase in lean body mass
should be planned in the training program for baseball pitchers, setting body fat aside,2) body weightshould be examined to understand the degree of aerobic training on baseball players.
Key l4tord: baseball, subcutaneous fat, ultrasonic method

Introduction
Recent advances in sports science have led to a great deal of interest in investigating the profiles ofelite athletes in their respective sports. Of physiological profiles, body composition of elite athletes
has been well documenteda,8,l0), because this profile provides insights in developing the training
program that should be emphasized for high performances. With respect to body composition ofelite
baseball players, Colemanl) and Gurry et al.s) measured the skinfold thicknesses on major league
baseball players. From thes€ studies, it seems to be concluded that elite baseball players indicate almost

the same relative body fat as non-athletic population. The game of baseball is, however, considered torequire each player to possess not only fine motor skills involved in the game but also certain
physiological profiles in conjunction with these skills. Furthermore. the effect of physical training on
physique is reported to be more remarkable in the change of body fat than that of body weighte).
Therefore, it appears appropriate to describe the profiles of elite baseball players by examining
subcutaneous fat and provide the information which may be useful as a point of reference for training-l8Procedures

Twenty nine elite baseball players and 14 non-athletic male college students volunteered as
subjects for this study. Baseball players, who were all engaged in a Japanese professional baseball team,were grouped as pitchers (n= I 5 ) and fielders (n= l4). Mean values of age, body height, and body weight

for each subject group are given in Table 1. Measurements for baseball players were taken immediately
after the competitive season.

Eight subcutaneous fats were measured on each subject as follows: 1) forearm ante or, on thefront of forearm at the 3U7o distal point from the olecranon; 2) upper arm anterior, on the front ofupper arm at the 6U/o distal point from the acromion; 3) upper arm posterior, on the back of upperarm at the corresponding point with upper arm anterior, 4) subscapular, just beneath the inferior angleof the scapular; 5) adbominal. in horizontal line with the umbilicus I cm to the right;6) thigh anterior,on the front of thigh at the 50% distal point from the greater trochanter; 7) thigh posterior, on theback of thigh at the corresponding point with thigh anterior; 8) leg posterior, on the back of leg at the30% distal poinl from the articulatio genus. All subcutaneous fats were measured on the right side ofeach standing subject by using an ultrasonic apparatus (ECHO CAMERA 210 D' I I , ALOKA Co.). The

thickness of subcutaneous fat was defined as the length from cutis to the boundary line between
subcutaneous fat and musculo-fascia on the ultrasonic image pictured by B mode method.

Ordinary statistical values, including means, standard errors, and coefficients of correlation, werecalculated. Difference between values in any two of the three groups were tested for significance by
the paired t test. The level of significance was accepted as below 0.05.

Table l. Physical Characteristics and the Thickness of Subcutaneous Fat
Age (yr)

HeiSht (cm)(n‐ 15)213± 06

181 4 ■1 0

Ficldels(n=14)

226■ 08203■ 03

1773± 08

NOn‐ Athletes (n‐ 14)

upper arm

PrN::::￨:::]
abdominal

thlgh a６Ｎ

４﹁︱ ︱ コ８Ｆ︲ン﹁ー６Ｐ

meana.

﹁川Ｊｌforea.rm a.*﹁ＩШ
﹁Pitchels

Wet● t(聰 )171 3 ■1 8

upper alm

p.* subscap.

(mm),9 ■0570 ■07￨::￨::]

7 7 ±04thigh pleg p.

5 9 ■05

4 7 ±04

5 3 ■0346 ■0345 ■0346■ 01l S.E.

r ; Symbols of a. and p. indicate anterior and posterior, respectively.

I ; significant difference between two gloups(mm)foream. a-l5-r(mm)leg. p.

a- Pitcherso- Fielders
uPPer---- Non-Athletes＼upper arm. P.

thigh. p.

subscapular

thigh. a.

abdominat

Fig. l. Anatomical distdbution of subcutaneous fat. Each point indicates the mean value for the measures.

Results

Eight thicknesses of subcutaneous fat detemined via ultrasonic method of the groups of pitchers,fielders, and non-athletic students are presented in Table l. ln order to understand the anatomical

distribution of subcutaneous fat better, the mean values for the measures on each group are illustrated
in Figure l.
Comparison of the thicknesses of subcutaneous fat among the three groups revealed that thehighest values were observed in the pitcherc for all sites measured. The pithcers indicated significant
higher values than the fielders in 4 out of 8 sites (forearm anterior, upper arm arte.ior, upper arm

posterior, and abdominal) and the non-athletic students in 5 sites (forearm anterior, upper armanterior, upp€r arm posterior, thigh anterior, and thigh posterior), respectively. Except for thighposterior, there were no significant differences in the thicknesses of subcutaneous fat between thefielders and the non-athletic students. With regard to the anatomical distribution of subcutaneous fat,the pattern of pitchers tended to indicate the possibility of more fat stores in upper extremity andabdominal sites than those in lower extremity sites compared to the other two groups, althoughconsiderably similar pattern was observed in all groups.
Mereas, among eight sites of subcutaneous fat measured, abdominal site had the greatest

ｏ一一∽ ¨ Ｃ ■ヒ Ｏ ● つ く Ｃ Ｏ ︸ Ｌ ∽ョ ｏ ①

24.0

r8.0

r=0.5012.0

xx

r=0.65×o (n=l4i p<0.05)

×oa﹂∞

０¨ い ｏ工 い

6.0× ××¨ ００ ﹁ ∽ ヽＯ ∽∽ｏＣ︐(n= l4: ns)

64.0

100.0 (kg)Body WeightFi& 2. Relationship between body weight and the thickness of subcutaneous fat on abdominal site.

variability in all groups. Especially, it was remarkable in the pitchers. The relationship between bodyweight and the thickness of subcutaneous fat on abdominal site is shown in Figure 2. In the pitchers
and the fielders, significant correlations between these two variables were obtained. That is, in thebaseball players participated in this study, the increase in body weight was accompanied by theincrease in the thickness of subcutaneous fat on abdominal site.

Discussion

The results on the thickness€s of subcutaneous fat in this study suggested that the pitchers
indicated higher relative body fat than the fielders. A similar finding was noted by Colemanr) in the
study of major league baseball players by position, who found higher relative body fat in the pitchersand considered about the reason of his finding that fat weight, while not desirable in any position,
was less determental to performance in pitching than in other positions. According to Fahey et d.3),

in the athletes such as shot-putter, discus thrower, and foot ball linemen, relative body fat wasobserved to be somewhat higher than the average individual. They argued that because a large leanbody mass was of considerable advantage in these sports, body fat was not a serious matter for successin performance so far as speed in the movement of the body could be maintained. The samecharacteristics in performance between these athletes and baseball pitchers is considered that anaerobic
power exerted by muscles contribules greatly to elite performances. However, body weight is not ofprimary importance for baseball pitchers because of no contact with the opponent. Therefore, it may
be recommended that while there is an acceptable range of body fat for good health status, the increase

21in lean body mass should be planned in the training program, setting body fat aside.
On the other hand, except for thigh posterior, there were no significant differences in the thicknesses of subcutaneous fat between the fielders and the non-athletic students. As the mean bodyweight in the fielders was observed higher than that in the non-athletic students, it was predicted thatthe fielders indicated lower relative body fat than the non-athletic students. It has been generally
believed that there is a negative correlation between relative body fat and the velocity in sprint
running2Jl). Considering that the fielders had more opportunities of running such as fielding andbase running than the pitchers, the lower relative body fat was considered to be desirable for thefie1ders.

Although considerably similar pattem was observed in the anatomical distribution of subcutaneous

fat in all groups, the pattem of pitchen tended to indicate the possibility of more fat stores in upper
extremity and abdominal sites than those in lower extremity sites compared to the other two groups.
This result appeared to be contrary to the study of Malina et a1.7) who asserted that the anatomical
distribution of fat might be more dependent on biological or environmental factors unrelated to sport
and training than fatness, i,e., the sum of suitable loaded skinfolds. This disagreement is considered tobe due to the difference in definition of anatomical distribution of fat. As the pitchers indicated higher
values in the thickness of subcutaneous fat on both upper extremity and abdominal sites, similar result
may be obtained if the definition of them in which anatomical distribution of fat was determined as

an extremity/trunk ratio was adopted. Ishida et al.6), measuring the subcutaneous fat on female
distance runners, suggested that effect of physical training on the decrease in subcutaneous fat wasobserved more noticeable in the trunk than in the extremities. The thickness of subcutaneous fat on
abdominal site may be one index to understand the degree of aerobic training on the athletes. If so,
the game and/or training of baseball may not have the aerobic stress on the pitchers adequately todecrease in body fat.
As seen in Figure 2, there was a positive correlation between body weight and the thickness of
subcutaneous fat on abdominal site in the baseball players. The baseball players with relatively low
range of body weight, even pitchers with lower weight, appeared to indicate lower value of the thickness of subcutaneous fat on abdominal site than the non-athletic students in the same range of bodyweight. The body weight, however, should be taken into account as an easy item for the measure whichreflects the thickness of subcutaneous fat on the abdominal site for baseball players.

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