O's announce player dev partnership with K-Motion

[tntoriole]

1 hour ago, scOtt said:

"Electron faeries dancing on copper wires. That's WITCHCRAFT! We'll have none of that malarkey."

“And none of those Dominican Republic teenagers either. “

[esmd]

Refreshing.  So, so, so, refreshing.

[weams]

3 hours ago, interloper said:

 

Quote

“Our partnership with K-MOTION allows us to quickly build a smarter, more efficient foundation for our player development programs,” says Sig Mejdal, Vice President and Assistant General Manager for Analytics of the Baltimore Orioles. “From Single-A all the way to the majors, we expect K-MOTION Baseball to accelerate our goal of creating the sustainable, long-term success that will bring a World Series title back to the city of Baltimore.”

A former NASA engineer, Mejdal was previously with the St. Louis Cardinals and Houston Astros before joining the Orioles front office in 2018. He oversees all aspects of the Orioles’ analytics efforts while assisting and advising in all manners of baseball operations.

“The integration of K-MOTION products at over 22 MLB teams showcases how powerful 3D technology is to player development,” says Michael Chu, CEO of K-MOTION. “We are thrilled the Orioles trust our products to provide the most precise and efficient data measurement and training tools in baseball.”

 

[weams]

I say this is good. This is the new cutting edge stuff, not the stuff everyone has been using before us. 

[weams]

3 hours ago, Aglets said:

Are we ahead of the curve with this?  Behind the curve?   ummmmmmm,  "on" the curve?

I'm asking how many other teams use this or similar technology?

This is the new stuff. 

[weams]

1 hour ago, OsFanSinceThe80s said:

So will Chris Davis finally get fixed? 

Possibly electrocuted by misuse. We shall have to see. 

 

[Satyr3206]

3 hours ago, LookinUp said:

I started listening to Patrick Jones' podcast after I heard he was hired by the O's. After listening to a few, you can tell how much of an art hitting really seems to be. Of all people, Kevin Youkilis was particularly interesting. He (and others) talked about not becoming too mechanical, which some of this technology could make happen if not properly understood. He talked about in game adjustments, hitting off balance and the importance of your own personal cues for timing or fixing your mechanics. Really interesting. Most of the guests talk about the individual hitter needs as opposed to building a robot like hitter. 

So this technology is important, but it still exists in a realm of maximizing the individual, not completely changing him.

So true. Your swing might need to be altered for many reasons. The pitcher on the mound, game situation, going to the opposite field and many others. I guess the tech might help but I remain skeptical.

[cnmilton]

Something I believe that would be helpful is Virtual Reality glasses

  Place a 3d camera behind home plate' punch the video image to roughly the same perspective as what a batter would see, record it and play it back through the goggles. Why would this be helpful? It would allow batters to study the pitcher's release angles they will be facing. It would give the hitters much better familiarity while in the batter's box imo.

[7Mo]

45 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

So true. Your swing might need to be altered for many reasons. The pitcher on the mound, game situation, going to the opposite field and many others. I guess the tech might help but I remain skeptical.

“With K-Motion Baseball’s precise and personalized 3D swing data, the Orioles’ coaches can objectively identify opportunities for improvement in players’ swings, train the exact solutions and track progress through a centralized cloud dashboard,” the statement read. “Through the dashboard, coaches can now easily see relationships between different data points to uncover trends that will facilitate improved outcomes across the entire organization. K-Motion will also assist the Orioles with processing 3D swing data to detect potential injuries before they occur.”

The Orioles, who had little data-driven infrastructure in place when Elias and Mejdel arrived in November, began using Edgertronic, Rapsodo, K-Vests and Blast Motion bat knob sensors in the Minors this season. Elias and new player development director Matt Blood are looking to fill the organization’s upwards of 30 vacant positions in player development, scouting and baseball ops with instructors who are data-fluent and tech-proficient. Elias has said he hired Blood, who has ties to Driveline, for his connections and experience in those areas.

https://www.mlb.com/news/orioles-k-motion-player-development-partner

[LookinUp]

46 minutes ago, Satyr3206 said:

So true. Your swing might need to be altered for many reasons. The pitcher on the mound, game situation, going to the opposite field and many others. I guess the tech might help but I remain skeptical.

I didn't mean to write the post as skeptical. I think tools like this, which will certainly improve and become more sophisticated over time, help hitting coaches and players become more aware of swing deficiencies, and that can guide training. However, like any teaching tool, if you don't understand the individual, you can really screw them up. I'd say that's particularly true on the mental side in baseball. Smart deployment of tools like this can be game changers in a positive way, but misappropriated use will likely leave some behind. The org needs to be smart enough to know for whom that line exists.

[LookinUp]

Just thinking more about this. Consider player X. 

On day 1, player X puts this thing on their body. This player is in a hot streak to end all hot streaks. Coach Y pitches BP, and the machine takes a look at the swing metrics.

On day 10, player X puts it on again. He's had a tough week. He's off balance and not seeing the ball well. 

This tool can identify the differences between day 1 and day 10. You can further break things down by pitch type, velocity and even spin rate (probably from another data source). After all, player X's swing is likely somewhat different for fastballs, curves and changes, inside and outside, up and down, etc. 

So this is one tool in a larger tool box of analytics in hopes of informing a player about what goes right and wrong over many different circumstances. It's another information gathering tool. Sig and company are then looking at all of that information for an individual player, informing coaches and players, and attempting to build the better approach.

It's more systematic than a hitting coach's eye and knowledge of the next day's opponent starting pitcher, that's for sure.

[Luke-OH]

1 hour ago, Satyr3206 said:

So true. Your swing might need to be altered for many reasons. The pitcher on the mound, game situation, going to the opposite field and many others. I guess the tech might help but I remain skeptical.

I’m more familiar with the methods for pitchers using Edgertronic cameras and rapsodo to help pitchers than this technology for hitters but I think one of the major benefits of this is pretty simple, it allows the player to match feel to real. You still have to cue and coach, but it helps to have some objective process measurement and goals. It helps calibrate a players feel for when they are moving the way they want to and when something is a little off. It’s not about making players the same, it’s about having a blueprint for each player to improve upon.

 

[byrdz]

Not a surprise that a former NASA engineer would be bringing in sensible technology I guess. Pretty neat!

[Moose Milligan]

Their website is interesting from what I can tell.  I'd like to see the stuff in action but I'm not about to request a demo so I can have some salesguy call me only to learn that I'm an Orioles honk and just want to see what the big fuss is.  

From their site:

Quote

 

What Does 3D Data Reveal?

An instant understanding of how a player moves, sequences and creates speed/power

How to unlock a player’s most efficient and powerful swing

The precise coaching program for a player to reach their true potential

 

Nowhere does it talk about pitch recognition and bat to ball skills.  So in regards to Davis standing there looking at strike 3 all season...I'm not sure this can help.

In the event that he does decide to swing...maybe this helps.

I'm also curious to know how heavy handed the new regime is going to be in dispersing this technology to the big league club and minor league teams, too.  Like if you're Mountcastle and you're hesitant about using it...are they going to MAKE you?  Are we going to hear guys whining after they leave Baltimore that this tech was pushed hard on them by the FO?  

[Luke-OH]

2 hours ago, weams said:

I say this is good. This is the new cutting edge stuff, not the stuff everyone has been using before us. 

It is new stuff, very new, but this isn’t being ahead of the curve yet, 22 teams will be using k-motion in 2020. So no longer behind would be appropriate.

I think the winners and losers will be determined less by who has the best or newest technology, but by who best optimizes the technology (along with coaching personnel) for achieving measurable player development outcomes.