Finding the Edge

This week we talk about what we have been learning from some of the various zoom calls we have been on while we all have been sequestered at home. Additionally, we discuss the journal club we did with Rob Gray in which Brock Hammit made a cameo. While once again talking about what we are doing with the Baseball Coaches Clubhouse discord server and some of the different events we will be facilitati...

This week we were fortunate to have on the podcast Rob Gray professor at ASU and host of the Perception & Action Podcast. We discuss with Rob some of his research into virtual reality (VR) environments as well as how some of his research on drivers' perception could have implications for baseball batters. We also explore a variety of other topics as well. Rob has lots of great resources on the...

This week Robert and I explore batters exit velocity based upon pitch location with R Studio. We ended up video recording a part of our podcast so you guys can see what Robert was talking about with the cool visuals he created in R Studio from Baseball Savant data on batter's exit velocity based upon pitch location. If you want to check that out link below. We also discuss the discord serve we cre...

This week we had Caleb Abney who this past season was the hitting coach for Covenant College and helped guide their offense to be one of the top offenses in the country at the D3 level before their season was cut short due to the pandemic. He has coaching experience from the high school level to the professional level working most recently in 2019 with the Minnesota Twins in the Gulf Coast League....

This week we had Nick Ascue who is the Volunteer Assistant at Bowling Green University in Ohio in charge of catchers and hitters there. Today we explore how Nick develops catchers and hitters through both a games-based and ecological approach. We also explore catching through the perspective of the umpire and what their intentions and perceptions may be and how they contribute to ball and strike c...

This week we introduce Robert Frey as a co-host and discuss the intention behind the podcast and the direction moving forward. We also explore machine learning and how it could aid in scouting pitchers and how pitchers could counter it being used against them. We also touch on and give our thoughts on the cancellations of many athletes' spring seasons.    Join our Discord: bit.ly/3a07z1B...

This week on the podcast we have Troy Rallings who was a stand out relief pitcher at the University of Washington where he accumulated numerous awards and records as PAC-12 Pitcher of the Year, the Louisville Slugger and Rawlings First  Team All-American Relief Pitcher, and West Coast Player of the Year. While at the University of Washington he set the single season ERA record, care...

This week we have on Robert Frey. Robert has created a Shiny app in R that allows teams and players to analyze practice or game data. His Shiny app also allows teams to analyze opposing teams as well and generate scouting reports. In this episode we discuss with Robert what inspired him to get into baseball analytics, ways to use R to analyze data, and what projects he's currently working. You can...

This week we have on Shawn Sherman the Founder and Creator of the Square 1 System to discuss their motor control restoration modality that is aimed at restoring the motor function of joint actions that don't tolerate load and cause the body to compensate as result. We take a deep dive into what is Square 1 and how it can help get guys health and keep them on the field to how it can help improve pe...

On this podcast we interview George Zirkel Pitching Coordinator at MSI located just outside of Philadelphia. George is also currently pursuing his Master's Degree in Motor Learning at Columbia University. In this episode we explore how the motor learning research can be applied to improving pitching performance as well as how to program for a large group of athletes.  

On this episode we have with us Jake Stone from Simple Sabermetrics. Not to be confused with Justin Stone a mistake that many including myself have made. But if you don’t know Jake you should he is also the Director of Operations and Player Development at Penn State. Today we explore with Jake his youtube channel focused around the new advances in player development and how he utilizes technology...

On this podcast we reflect on what we've learned in 2019 since starting this podcast as well as the start of 2020. Garrett was able to make it out to ABCA this year and we spent some time reflecting on the conference as well as the start of the college season. Additionally, Brock shared a little update on his new position with the Brewers. On this podcast we not only reflected on some past ideas b...

This week we interview Sumair Shaw who has worked for Driveline Baseball's R&D department and has written for Baseball Prospectus. We discuss where to start with data to help players, interesting questions in baseball including gaze behavior, using short box for batting practice among other things. We also talk about what does the research process look like at Driveline and what is good proces...

This episode we interview Phil Cebuhar Graduate Manager with University of Arkansas.  Phil talks about his journey to becoming a coach from college player to coaching with the Indians in the Dominican Republic to his current position with Arkansas. He also discusses the technology he has used with both the Indians and with Arkansas. 

In episode 6 we cover a litany of topics ranging from principles for randomized practice to using statistics to predict the NL MVP. We also discuss a simple way to improve your pitching machine work with hitters, the role of visual search strategies, and anticipation for hitters.

This week we had on Brian Pozos a hitting trainer at 108 Performance in LA. In our conversation Brian highlights the importance of keeping a journal. We also talked about what is acquired during skill acquisition, the mental game and how outside factors influence the swing, and social learning experiences. Minor use of a swear word used when quoting the name of a book.

This week we discuss some of the changes that have occurred at MSU transitioning from fall ball to the off-season mainly surrounding workload management. We then transition into talking about utilizing different technologies such as Blast Motion and how data can factor into practice design.

A few of the things we discuss this episode are ALCS, affordances in hitting, calibration, and ways to improve batting practice.