MLB coaches who speak the language of analytics are more in demand than ever. Here's why. (via ShiDavidi & bnicholsonsmith)
hether or not you agree that biometric data is the solution to baseball coaching ills, there’s no debating that players are seeking answers in new ways. Late one night last summer, for example, Walker Buehler opened Instagram. The 24-year-old right-hander was in the midst of a breakout season in which he’d place third in National League Rookie of the Year voting. Any objective observer would say he was living up to his potential as a first-round pick. Still, Buehler wasn’t satisfied.
“It’s my career — I’m passionate about it and I have no interest in being in the minor leagues my entire life,” says Cal Quantrill, a 23-year-old Stanford management science and engineering graduate who now ranks among the Padres’ top prospects. “If that means a couple of extra hours on the computer, reading articles, maybe I don’t know every other word, I don’t know, but at least I’m getting closer to understanding what they’re talking about on TV or FanGraphs.
Buehler got to work and started messing around with different grips in search of a solution. By late summer, he had found the answer he’d been seeking. On Aug. 22, he held the Cardinals to just three hits over seven scoreless innings, striking out nine. From that start to the end of the 2018 season, he posted a 1.62 ERA.
“The current landscape of player development and helping players get better is really to be curious about every type of resource,” says Gil Kim, the Blue Jays’ director of player development. “That’s experience, knowledge [and] past playing ability. That’s also experience with data and technology, experience with integrating mental performance into development. So it’s really about trying to maximize the skillset and diversity of our entire development department.
Until recently, batting practice was far simpler. A coach would stand in front of an L-screen and throw 60 m.p.h. fastballs down the middle. Before long, many of those offerings would be deposited into the bleachers with everyone from the hulking DH to the backup shortstop contributing. For professional hitters, this was easy — maybe too easy. “How in the hell is that going to prepare you to hit a 90 m.p.h. slider?” asks one progressive-minded coach.
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