Binocular Vision's Play On Baseball

Background: It is largely accepted that a good binocular vision system is critical to being
successful in sports. In studies comparing high level baseball players to non-athletes,
athletes have displayed exemplary binocular vision above and beyond the average person. Is their success based on innate above average levels of depth perception, or are these high levels trained through years of playing sports? We sought to discover if this correlation between stereopsis (depth perception) and success is true for the beginning levels of baseball.
Methods: The following study tested the visual acuity, heterophoria, and stereopsis of children that participated in organized little league baseball teams and then compared these values to their batting averages.
Results: Through the comparison of the patient data to their batting averages, we found that there is no correlation of the status of the binocular system and the batting averages.
Conclusion: The athletes screened all had great visual acuity and stereopsis, regardless of how many years they had been playing. An innate superior visual system is found in athletes and from this research, it may begin in childhood. In comparison to the average population, athletes have superior stereopsis, but there is not a correlation between the success of the sport and the value of the athlete’s stereopsis. Other skills contribute to the success of each athlete such as reaction time and experience.