Finding the Edge

In this episode, we discuss the importance of being able to integrate our exploration back into getting better on the field. One of the major mistakes that many people make who go all in on exploring to become more athletic often coaches end up programming activities to explore just for the sake of exploration. We don't want them to get good at doing random novel tasks but figure out how to perfor...

In this episode, we riff off of a video by Rafe Kelley from Evolve Move Play where Rafe and John Vervaeke are discussing the idea of Serious Play. We explore what it means to be a good coach and how you can utilize play to facilitate engagement, growth, and development. We also interacted with a few other video clips from Inning by Inning and Bruce Lee's movie Enter the Dragon. Links to things fea...

Goodhart's law is an important concept for coaches and analysts to keep in mind to maintain an edge when technology, data, and analytics are so pervasive in today's game. Simply following the current trends in the tech and data space may lead coaches, players, and organizations to misuse their analytics departments resulting in players underperforming on the field given the underlying data analysi...

This week we have Chad Longworth back on the podcast. Chad is a  self-professed curiosity junkie, it is what defines him and his journey.   As a coach, he believes that his playing career is completely irrelevant to helping players with their journey, other than his ability to relate as he's been there and knows how it feels. Chad is a facility owner and player development coach in...

In this episode, we brought Jackie Wu on to learn more about her and her course TheraPlay which takes a games-based approach to injury rehabilitation. In addition to incorporating play to recover from injury, play is a great way to stay healthy and make you more resilient to injury. If you would like to learn more about her course please email Jackie at strengththerapyhelp@gmail.com or email us at...

After a little hiatus, we're back with guest Bill Miller. Bill is unique in baseball, as he works with players both as a Strength and Conditioning Coach and Skills Coach. In our opinion, this is the future of sports coaching where the sport coach has a fundamental understanding of both strength and conditioning and motor learning principles.   Topics covered in this episode were: Power Develo...

This week we had on Julian Gonalez who recently got hired by the Orioles as Hitting Coach in the Dominican Republic. In this episode we had very emergent discussion where we explored the psychological side of the game through an ecological lens. This led us to explore how breathing and arousal regulation play into performance and how can we incorporate them into our training environments. Follow J...

In this week's episode, we had Caleb Abney back on with Garrett to have an emergent discussion while watching the Brewers vs Braves NLDS Game 4 in which we discuss some of the practical applications of an Ecological Approach in the context of watching a playoff game. A time-stamped outline of the topics we cover in this episode is listed below for your convenience. 00:00 | Introduction  03:04...

This week we had on Max Bay to discuss some of his Twitter threads analyzing baseball. We discussed the pitching metrics he came up with Stuff+, Location+, and Pitching+ and their implications. We also discussed how to get started doing data analysis with baseball data using R. Other topics we covered were can you teach command?, Command vs control, what can spray angle tell us?, and much more.&nb...

In this episode, we had recurring guest of the show, Caleb Abney, back on to discuss one of his tweets on creating challenging practice environments that generated a lot of discussion and engagement on Twitter. In this conversation, we covered the art of coaching, how to introduce challenging task design, information scaling with using a pitching machine, thoughts and cognitions, as well as how th...

In this episode, we have another emergent discussion that we record back in June after our spring seasons had ended. The discussion started with a reflection on our previous episode with Ted Monnich on how flow states can fit within an Ecological Approach to skilled behavior. We also explored the ecological concept of affordances and the role of thoughts and cognition play within the perception of...

In this episode, we have on Ted Monnich a sport psychology consultant who is currently getting his PhD studying flow state. Our discussion was around flow state and what things coaches and athletes can do to help facilitate getting into flow on the field. We also touched on how to deal with performance anxiety, group flow, how this could fit within an ecological approach to movement skill, and mor...

In this episode, we had George Zirkel Pitching Coordinator at MSI Baseball in PA, back on the podcast to discuss workload management. We had an emergent discussion where we also explored the potential limitations of an Ecological approach, co-designing training plans with athletes, player relationships, the importance of intrinsic motivation, purposeful catch play, the role of visualization in pra...

This week we have on Joe Mangiameli a MiLB Catching Coach in the Minnesota Twins organization. In this episode, we discuss how an ecological approach to skill acquisition shifted Joe's view of player development and how he trains his catchers. We also discuss receiving, converted catchers, workload management, umpires, robo umps, and more.

This week we have another emergent discussion from a month ago around a couple of hitting articles as well as a blog post written by one of the hosts of the show. Topics of discussion, the highest form of technique, pitching machines limitations, representative strike-ball percentages in batting practice, fostering competitive mindset, failure is a part of growth, and more.   Articles me...

This week we start our discussion by looking at an article written by Ethan Moore titled "Three Things We Could Learn From Swing Timing Analysis" which evolved into a conversation of how motor learning concepts can be applied to the analysis in this article. Article Link: https://prospects365.com/2020/08/18/3-things-we-could-learn-from-swing-timing-analysis/ Author's twitter: @Moore_Stats Join our...

This week we have ASU professor and host of the Perception & Action Podcast Rob Gray back on the show to talk about his latest paper on baseball batting titled, 
 Changes in Movement Coordination Associated With Skill Acquisition in Baseball Batting: Freezing/Freeing Degrees of Freedom and Functional Variability. Topics we explore in this episode include the degrees of freedom problem and 

th...

In this week's episode, we explore topics on anticipation, deception, and attentional blindness, adding novelty with constraints in a training environment, and perspective control. We also discuss the usefulness of the MLB video search for coaches and did a video recording of Robert showing us how to utilize MLB's new video library. Youtube: MLB Video Search Clip: https://youtu.be/SlmF939vA1E &nbs...

This week we have on Ethan Moore who is a student manager and analyst for the Cal Poly baseball program. This week we discuss the benefits of being a student manager, how to communicate data to coaches and players, sabermetrics, how to utilize technology on a budget, and more. Twitter: @Moore_Stats https://twitter.com/Moore_Stats Articles mentioned: https://www.businessinsider.com/batting-practice...

This week we have on Garrett Baker Pitching Coach for American International College. This week we explore how he uses an ecological approach to developing his pitching staff at AIC. We discuss how to create an adaptable pitcher, the mental side of pitching, HRV and breathing, what specifying information do pitchers connect with, and what does representative design look like for pitchers and how c...

This week we have on Sam Bornstein former head of the student managers for Iowa’s baseball program. This week we talk with Sam about his experience as a student manager at Iowa and how they utilized technology to improve player development.

 Twitter: @Sam__Bornstein Join our Discord: bit.ly/3a07z1B Find us on Twitter: @gboyum01 @RobertFrey40 Subscribe on Youtube: https://bit.ly/34dZ7MQ

This week we spoke with hitting coach and facility owner Chad Longworth. We talk about how he got into coaching, his early adoption of technology, how his coaching philosophy has evolved over the years, social media, entrepreneurship, innovative products he’s created, and more. To learn more about Chad be sure to check out his website, blog, and follow him on social media. Links below.

 Website:...

This week we had on Kyle Lindley from Driveline’s R&D department and co-host of the Driveline R&D Podcast. We talked with Kyle about his background and experience and how got into R&D at Driveline. We also explore and discuss some of the gaze behavior research its application and future research. Make sure to follow Kyle Lindley work on social media and their podcast at the links below...

This week we had a conversation with Alex Caravan from Driveline who works in their R&D Department and is a co-host of the Driveline R&D Podcast. Alex talks about how he got into baseball and working at Driveline. We also explore some basic statistical concepts as well as how that applies to player development. Make sure to follow Caravan on Twitter @Alex_Caravan and check out their podcas...

This week we bring back guests of the podcast Caleb Abney, Nick Ascue, and Brian Pozos to talk all things hitting.  Join our Discord: bit.ly/3a07z1B Find us on Twitter: @gboyum01 @RobertFrey40 Subscribe on Youtube: https://bit.ly/34dZ7MQ