Ideas Lab Weekly Updates
The following is recent news with notable & quotable text pulled directly from each article. Click on the headline to access the source.
4/24 — Tigers hitting coach Joe Vavra wants players to deep-dive into analytics during break
Vavra has also pushed his hitters to delve into analytics. To use this time to gain a better understanding of how they can use them.
“It’s really a new resource for everybody,” he said. “It can be overwhelming and it can be complicated. Just like with math — unless you learn how to add and subtract it’s really hard to multiply. You need to use baby steps with analytics, too.”
Vavra praised the work of Jay Sartori and the analytics team and now says the onus is on himself and the organization’s hitting instructors to make it work.
“We’ve seemed to catch up to the rest of the industry now,” he said. “We’re developing programs as we speak. Programs are all well and good, but if the players can’t analyze it and apply it, then the programs can’t have the full impact. We are challenging them to come out of their comfort zone a little bit.
4/22 — Scouting in the NFL May Never Be the Same
A change in football scouting was apparent even before the global pandemic hit the U.S. At the NFL combine in February, a second camera angle recorded every player’s 40-yard dash, enabling closer scrutiny of stride length and running form. Dr. Marcus Elliott, the founder of P3, was in Indianapolis to discuss bringing his advanced motion capture system for biomechanical assessments to the league. And Sportlogiq, whose computer vision technology can retroactively generate player tracking data from college football game film, was also in town to take meetings with coaches and executives.
After Sportlogiq and its partner, Telemetry Sports, gave one presentation, the team officials were silent for a full minute. Eventually, one spoke: “We’ve been trying to do this for two years, we didn’t think there was any way that this could get done this fast.” An executive with another team told them, “You guys are pulling this out at the exact right time.” Since the combine, Sportlogiq has signed contracts with four NFL clients, with another dozen teams interested in using it to prepare for the 2021 draft.
4/21 — Gaming The Odds Of The (Post Pandemic) Return Of Sports
Amid the evolution of live sporting events, Fried said that sports franchises would tap into other ways to make money. He predicted that that eSports — that is, competitions conducted across video games — will continue to do well, geared as they are to the home environment.
It may be the case that teams play to empty seats — at least for a while — taking a cue from the Chinese Basketball Association, which has reportedly been planning a “round robin” schedule in empty arenas.
“People are starving for content…Right now, you’re seeing professional athletes playing horse and you have viewers that are watching it.”
4/24 — Weak Lower Extremities May Increase Risk for Elbow Injury
Can poor foot arch posture make you more susceptible to an elbow injury? According to a new study, “Regional Interdependence and the Role of the Lower Body in Elbow Injury in Baseball Players: A Systematic Review,” published April 16, 2020 online at The American Journal of Sports Medicine, yes it is possible.
This is important because elbow injuries are prevalent among baseball players, especially pitchers. According to the American Journal of Roentgenology (“Elbow Injuries in Adult Overhead Athletes”), 265 of injuries suffered by professional pitchers involve the elbow.
Researchers involved in this study found that weak lower extremities may increase the risk for elbow pain and injury in baseball players. The reason they say is the important role the lower extremities play in the kinetic chain of the baseball throwing motion. The kinetic chain refers to how the different parts of the body work together to perform a movement. The kinetic chain for throwing involves the legs, hip, trunk, upper arm, forearm and hand.
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