Jeff Passan: Rays enlisting potentially revolutionary technology to study pitching

[TwistedLogic]

Sources: MLB team enlisting potentially revolutionary technology to study pitching

Jeff Passan, June 15, 2015

 

In the quest to keep arms healthy, the Tampa Bay Rays have always positioned themselves ahead of baseball, emphasizing

a comprehensive shoulder-strengthening program long before other teams caught on. Now the Rays are hoping technology

can give them a step up, too.

 

The Rays will be the first team to install Kinatrax, a markerless motion-capture system, in their stadium, sources told Yahoo

Sports. An announcement touting the move is expected Monday.

 

Kinatrax uses ultra-high-speed cameras and aims to capture the sort of biomechanical data that previously necessitated the

placement of reflective markers on different body parts. Should Kinatrax do what it purports to, it would revolutionize

baseball by offering looks at pitchers’ in-game biomechanics instead of those revealed in laboratory settings.

 

By installing Kinatrax at Tropicana Field, not only do the Rays get to analyze their own pitchers, they can track opponents’

biomechanics. Exactly how they will interpret the data is unclear, especially in the immediate future, but years worth of data

could provide patterns that show typical biomechanical traits of pitchers who get hurt vs. those who stay healthy. One of the

Rays’ analysts, Josh Kalk, was a noted guru in analyzing PITCHf/x data before he joined the team in 2009.

 

Read the rest here: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/sources--mlb-team-enlisting-potentially-revolutionary-technology-to-study-pitching-154837850.html

[Boxcar]

God bless the Rays.

[gruber92]

Yawn..

[Boxcar]

Yawn..

 

What an attention whore

[gruber92]

What an attention whore

 

Lol

[Boxcar]

One of your weaker efforts, Moogs.

[BTS]

Thank goodness for that shoulder-strengthening program. Presumably, without it, the Rays would have just opened up a pit in foul territory at the Trop, and bulldozed the fallen pitchers into it each game. With it, they were able to only put most of their pitchers on the DL, instead of all. "Cutting edge," like that of a scalpel.

 

What an attention whore

[Inklink]

Anything to fill seats, even if those seats are occupied by cameras.

[burlingtonbandit]

What happens when the team moves to Montreal in 3 years?

[Brownie19]

Pretty much on point imo.

 

Is there any teams with as much pitching on the shelf as the rays?

 

hence why they are trying this new technology?

[BigBounceyBlueBalls]

Can not other teams ban this pitcher capture biomechanical data from being taken of Thier pitchers while on the mound ?

 

Unless the Rays share all data collected on them with thier teams, unfair competition, like stealing signs, roids and the man in white! Lol

[NorthOf49]

Just stating facts.

 

It'd be like posting an article promoting the Jays' latest "cutting edge" efforts to make the playoffs, like their last cutting edge effort (which, apparently, was a strategy to lose and make the playoffs).

 

Give me a team with healthy SPs, and then feed me something about their efforts to keep them healthy.

I'm with you on being skeptical of this stuff. Past injuries and clear poor mechanics are the only indicators I believe in, pending further evidence. Teams have used this type of technology before and it hasn't let to a revolution. Smart baseball people can't even agree on whether throwing more pitches and innings is good or bad for health.

[KingKat]

Are the Rays really worse than anyone else with injured pitcher? IIRC, they had a really good track record previously. Seems like their fortunes in that respect are merely averaging out.

[Boxcar]

Are the Rays really worse than anyone else with injured pitcher? IIRC, they had a really good track record previously. Seems like their fortunes in that respect are merely averaging out.

 

And now that s*** went south, they are taking measures to prevent it from happening again in the future. I don't really understand how the Rays are such a magnet for scorn.

[KingKat]

And now that s*** went south, they are taking measures to prevent it from happening again in the future. I don't really understand how the Rays are such a magnet for scorn.

 

For most people, it's mere homerism. For Moogy, something something, Queen BTS, something, something.

[Boxcar]

For most people, it's mere homerism. For Moogy, something something, Queen BTS, something, something.

 

Just weird. Seems like some of these homer guys hate the Rays more than the Yankees and Red Sox and that doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

[Boxcar]

Other teams do stuff too though (the Blue Jays have their weighted ball program and have been very healthy recently). The Rays don't deserve extra credit for looking into injuries until they actually find something. That's the point Moogy is making.

 

I think this is a bit different because it adds another inefficiency the Rays can shoot for in sustainable pitcher health through observing other teams' starters.

[KingKat]

I think this is a bit different because it adds another inefficiency the Rays can shoot for in sustainable pitcher health through observing other teams' starters.

 

 

Maybe but it will take years before they know whether they even know anything. For now, this is merely an innovative way to gather data. For all we know, the data itself might discredit biomechanics altogether.

[BTS]

Are the Rays really worse than anyone else with injured pitcher? IIRC, they had a really good track record previously. Seems like their fortunes in that respect are merely averaging out.

 

Seems like they had a stretch of like 6-7 years without any major injuries to pitchers. Now they've had 4 in a short time. Still probably far below average. And as Boxy says, they're trying to improve their process.

[sachmo55]

I'm just surprised other teams haven't already invested in this kind of technology. You've invested millions of dollars on guys to throw for a living, I would figure you'd do everything possible to ensure they minimize the wear and tear on their arms.

[KingKat]

I'm just surprised other teams haven't already invested in this kind of technology. You've invested millions of dollars on guys to throw for a living, I would figure you'd do everything possible to ensure they minimize the wear and tear on their arms.

 

You really have to have an eye on the future to invest in something like this. Most current GMs won't be around by the time there's data worth analyzing. This is the kind of thing that only comes from a certain type of ownership.

[NorthOf49]

Seems like they had a stretch of like 6-7 years without any major injuries to pitchers. Now they've had 4 in a short time. Still probably far below average. And as Boxy says, they're trying to improve their process.

They also had a bad stretch a couple years ago. Tommy John surgeries since start of 2006 (when Friedman rose to power):

 

http://i.imgur.com/cfgIXct.png

 

So the Rays are sixth-best with 18, pretty good. The White Sox reputation is deserved... Don Cooper and Co. somehow keep them healthy and productive.

[BTS]

They also had a bad stretch a couple years ago. Tommy John surgeries since start of 2006 (when Friedman rose to power):

 

http://i.imgur.com/cfgIXct.png

 

So the Rays are sixth-best with 18, pretty good. The White Sox reputation is deserved... Don Cooper and Co. somehow keep them healthy and productive.

 

I was looking for that. Who was it a few years ago? Niemann, Kazmir...?

[NorthOf49]

I was looking for that. Who was it a few years ago? Niemann, Kazmir...?

Neither of those guys apparently had TJ. Niemann had other issues, Kazmir just wore down.

 

Taylor Guerrieri, Ty Morrison, Grayson Garvin were the TJ guys. The major leaguers who went down in 2012-2013 had other issues.

[KingKat]

smacking all you fluffers in the nose for getting in our way as you chase them on your knees, mouth open, anxiously awaiting your next bukkake treatment in the form of pro-Rays news.

 

You see treating the Rays like any other team as akin to peeing in their mouth while they're asleep

 

This kind of undermines your point about not being a hater.

[Boxcar]

It kind of doesn't.

 

Was a good post, though. I laughed pretty hard and you're probably correct that I'm a bit biased towards the Rays naturally doing everything right.

[KingKat]

It kind of doesn't.

 

O.K. I guess you're just an *******.

[LTR]

^How many lines you got out there in the water?

[KingKat]

I'm kind of not.

 

Let's put this into perspective. Something you might be able to grasp.

 

I kind of like cats. I mean, I definitely prefer dogs, but I'm generally a fan of animals, as a whole (Boxy really likes sheep. I mean, REALLY likes sheep, but I digress) ... and cats are OK, being a domesticated animal and all. Some are nice, some are fugly, some have bad personalities, some I just don't care about at all. But on the whole, I'm cool with cats.

 

But grown men who do things like dress up cats in sweaters, name themselves after cats and use pictures of said cats as an avatar on a baseball discussion board, well ... those folks are f***ing retarded creepy motherf***ers. I would make sure my kids stayed on the far side of me as we passed by one of those psycho-freaks. There probably wouldn't be enough room for my boys in the guy's basement, what with all the cats and young boys already down there ... but, just in case. You can never be too safe when it comes to freaky cat men.

 

So when there's a discussion about something a cat did, and KreepyKat goes on and on about how thuper-awethome it was, and I point out it wasn't a big deal, and wax poetic about how totally nutter butter KreepyKat dude and his buddies are ...

 

I'm not "hating" on cats. I'm hating on psychos.

 

And, in case I lost you (which is the usual case), the equivalencies here are:

animals = baseball,

cats = Rays

sick cat f***s = Rays sycophants

Copperweld = awesomely 100% correct, again

 

You're welcome.

 

Let me catch you up...

 

My point was that there's a contradiction between how you act all smart and at the same time feell the need to make needlessly insulting juvenile comments that point at a desire to antagonize. You are a hater and you make that quite obvious. The object of your hate is besides the point. Frankly, I was just splitting hairs when I called you an *******.

[L54]

I'm kind of not.

 

Let's put this into perspective. Something you might be able to grasp.

 

I kind of like cats. I mean, I definitely prefer dogs, but I'm generally a fan of animals, as a whole (Boxy really likes sheep. I mean, REALLY likes sheep, but I digress) ... and cats are OK, being a domesticated animal and all. Some are nice, some are fugly, some have bad personalities, some I just don't care about at all. But on the whole, I'm cool with cats.

 

But grown men who do things like dress up cats in sweaters, name themselves after cats and use pictures of said cats as an avatar on a baseball discussion board, well ... those folks are f***ing retarded creepy motherf***ers. I would make sure my kids stayed on the far side of me as we passed by one of those psycho-freaks. There probably wouldn't be enough room for my boys in the guy's basement, what with all the cats and young boys already down there ... but, just in case. You can never be too safe when it comes to freaky cat men.

 

So when there's a discussion about something a cat did, and KreepyKat goes on and on about how thuper-awethome it was, and I point out it wasn't a big deal, and wax poetic about how totally nutter butter KreepyKat dude and his buddies are ...

 

I'm not "hating" on cats. I'm hating on psychos.

 

And, in case I lost you (which is the usual case), the equivalencies here are:

animals = baseball,

cats = Rays

sick cat f***s = Rays sycophants

Copperweld = awesomely 100% correct, again

 

You're welcome.

 

It's cute when you try extra hard!