Optimizing Pitcher Arsenals: The Iowa Way
In today’s blog post, we are going to focus on our program’s process of optimizing pitcher arsenals. Before we begin, it is important we focus on some of the steps we took along the way. Throughout the Fall and Spring seasons, we collect mass amounts of data that allows us to evaluate our pitching staff on an individual basis. In order to determine the improvements we want to make, we must first analyze what makes the pitcher elite and set goals that align with our philosophies. After we establish the road we are going to take, we then educate each pitcher on their goals and the possible steps we can take to achieve them. The entirety of this process is known as “pitch design”. If you are unfamiliar with this term or what it means, feel free to check out this link to learn more!
Data Collection
Here at Iowa, we are fortunate enough to have a team of data analysts, led by Sam Bornstein, that collect and store a myriad of data that is captured by our player development technologies. Once the data is cleaned and added into our database, it is then readily available in the program’s internal information system — HawkDashboard — which features visualizations for trends over time, tables with performance statistics, and daily reports that are part of our current feedback loop. This feedback is necessary for our program and our player development model. As you may have seen previously on this publication, here is an example of a Bullpen Report that a pitcher receives shortly after throwing on the mound.
Where are we? Where do we want to be?
After we collect the data, we can now evaluate each pitcher and their arsenal to see how they are performing. Specifically to pitch design, we evaluate a pitcher’s velocity, spin axis, horizontal & vertical break, and spin efficiency. Additionally, we evaluate fastball location effectiveness with a metric called vertical approach angle by a project that was completed by Reed Zahradnik. This is used as more of a guide for the pitchers to focus on a specific part of the zone. After gathering this information, we then compare these metrics against our key performance indicators (KPI) that we believe make them effective. In order to do this, Brooke Arnold, one of our Data Analysts, designed an application (pictured below) which allows us to compare a desired pitch metric against our KPIs to find the optimal ranges from past performance data.
Education is Key
The dissemination of information to our pitchers is on a needs-basis. This type of approach works for our team because of the information we are able to provide. Some pitchers enjoy taking a deep dive into the metrics they see on the iPad and some don’t, which is okay. Being able to provide the sustainable amount of information for each pitcher is what matters. Although we have a good idea of where our staff performs best, the more important aspect is educating each pitcher as to why we want to make the adjustments. We believe the first step to promote buy-in is education and a simple way we accomplish this is through video. This can be in the form of voice-over or overlay video that our pitchers can watch at any time throughout the year. An example of this could be as simple as a Driveline Edge Pitch Visualization that is paired with metric overlay of their bullpen. This is where our Video & Scouting managers become so important and vital to our program’s feedback loop with the work they do. Here are some examples of video our program utilizes.
The Final Product
Our goal at the end of this phase is to ensure our staff is confident in their arsenal. It is also a time to focus on how the new arsenal needs to be used and located in order to be effective. We can do this as we approach the season and start to face competition again to gauge how they are performing and if adjustments need to be made. Overall, pitch design is an experimentation phase and exploration should be encouraged. The more we figure out solutions to the problem, the more accurate we can be as coaches and athletes, both.
