Tracking Orioles Minor League Offseason Work

[nvpacchi]

The other day I found some videos of work Chayce McDermott has been doing in the offseason, and I just found another video of what Ryan Long has been doing at Driveline.  I figured it would be thread worthy as things come across, as it gives us guys on the fringes that may jump up a bit more than expected.

 

Here's what Ryan Long has done at Driveline since 2020:

 

[nvpacchi]

reposting the Chayce McDermott new slider videos:
 

Below you can see the movement profile pretty well

 

[nvpacchi]

not necessarily new - but Dillon Tate went through a lot of positive offseason adjustments in year's past to become a viable ML pitcher

 

 

 

 

[nvpacchi]

admittedly I don't know Stauffer, but Chris Vallimont is working on a sweeper!

https://twitter.com/LanzilliCam/status/1619075317112659968

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by nvpacchi

[btdart20]

Here's the longer video of Tate and the Driveline lab. 

This is the type of thing at the MedStar pitching lab.

[Tony-OH]

You have to appreciate these young men investing in themselves at driveline. You would think that major league teams would invest in driveline technologies and coaching and open this kind of training up to all of their pitching prospects in the offseason.

[LookinUp]

23 hours ago, Tony-OH said:

You have to appreciate these young men investing in themselves at driveline. You would think that major league teams would invest in driveline technologies and coaching and open this kind of training up to all of their pitching prospects in the offseason.

I think the economics just make it impossible. Too many people in the minors would have to commit to housing, jobs and life near a team facility.

Instead places like Driveline will just continue to expand. Even around this area there are a bunch of people trying to go that way, but with less technology. Eventually places like that will be everywhere, with varying expertise of course.

[btdart20]

1 hour ago, LookinUp said:

I think the economics just make it impossible. Too many people in the minors would have to commit to housing, jobs and life near a team facility.

Instead places like Driveline will just continue to expand. Even around this area there are a bunch of people trying to go that way, but with less technology. Eventually places like that will be everywhere, with varying expertise of course.

I'd also hope this is exactly the type of thing that they do during the instructionals, extended ST, and whenever else these guys aren't in season.

[yark14]

6 hours ago, LookinUp said:

I think the economics just make it impossible. Too many people in the minors would have to commit to housing, jobs and life near a team facility.

Instead places like Driveline will just continue to expand. Even around this area there are a bunch of people trying to go that way, but with less technology. Eventually places like that will be everywhere, with varying expertise of course.

It's not that it is impossible...it's just that teams don't want to spend the money.  I would bet the cost to do in-house year-round Driveline quality training with the entire system would cost about as much as the salary of a mid-level free agent.

[Frobby]

44 minutes ago, yark14 said:

It's not that it is impossible...it's just that teams don't want to spend the money.  I would bet the cost to do in-house year-round Driveline quality training with the entire system would cost about as much as the salary of a mid-level free agent.

I also think the union would have something to say about it.  You can’t really mandate year-round training and only pay the players during the season.  

[emmett16]

4 hours ago, yark14 said:

It's not that it is impossible...it's just that teams don't want to spend the money.  I would bet the cost to do in-house year-round Driveline quality training with the entire system would cost about as much as the salary of a mid-level free agent.

It’s not very expensive. 
Blast sensor $150

Pulse sensor(black band on Tate's arm)  $150

Traq system(dashboard) $150

Rapsodo (or other cameras that read ball flight) $4,000

K-Vest $5,000

Hit Trax (the kids are bored at the schwag batting cages now) $10,000

Floor pressure plates installed $10,000

The Orioles are absolutely utilizing all the same technologies that Driveline does.  They just aren’t doing these things in the off-season, that’s up to the player.  I’d be shocked if the Os don’t have $100k+ of tech and goodies in all their facilities.  

Edited February 3, 2023 by emmett16

[emmett16]

2 hours ago, yark14 said:

It's not that it is impossible...it's just that teams don't want to spend the money.  I would bet the cost to do in-house year-round Driveline quality training with the entire system would cost about as much as the salary of a mid-level free agent.

A lot of this stuff is done virtually now (I’m a driveline client).  If you have access to a few tools (hittrax, blast, and pulse) you upload all your data to their Traq system and meet with your trainer every week, bi-weekly, or monthly.  You video all your workouts, wear your pulse, k-vest, and blast while working in a facility with Hit Trax or Rapsodo and it’s just like you are in their Washington or Arizona facility.  The Orioles use almost an identical system.  

[emmett16]

10 hours ago, btdart20 said:

I'd also hope this is exactly the type of thing that they do during the instructionals, extended ST, and whenever else these guys aren't in season.

Every player has a dashboard they can log in to.  Each player has a calendar with a set work out for each day of the week.  Their nutrition, rest/recovery,  and sleep cycle also get programmed in.  Each player has their own unique goals, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly.  Each player has a unique set of work-outs specifically programmed for them and where they are in their schedule.  They wear tech and video all of their workouts.  All of the data is put into their dashboard.  They are looking at throws per day, high effort throws per day, chronic workload, acute workload, and torque per throw.  They are getting velocity readings from every throw and every angle on the field and they know their deficiencies and strengths.  All those are monitored and adjusted depending on where they are in the season.  All of that data is used to create their unique workout plan.  The same goes for the hitting side.  All data from their hitting sessions are recorded.  They get their Max EV, The 'top 8' EVs (which is most indicative of success) and avg. EV (not super important but paints a separate picture).  They pull a ton of other data on batted ball judging impact and spin.  They judge their swing decisions similarly and are given drills to work on improving various aspects of swing decisions. They are judged on smash factor which is their ability to square up the ball effectively and consistently.  They are given goals, drills, work out plans etc. to work on each of these three things.  Early in FCL, I imagine, all the kids are taught how to use their dashboard and about the tech they will be using.  They will be explained the drills, workout plans, goals, and the 'why' to everything they are doing. 

Edited February 3, 2023 by emmett16

[nvpacchi]

Grayson Rodriguez telling it like it is!  Talking about how the org skyrocketed in its development on the pitching side.  So I'd imagine everything we're talking about here the O's most certainly have in house in one way shape or form.

Not the biggest fan of the Cespedes BBQ guys type of humor, but I'll likely listen to this one.  That drawl on Grayson took me by surprise!

 

[OriolesMagic83]

3 minutes ago, nvpacchi said:

Grayson Rodriguez telling it like it is!  Talking about how the org skyrocketed in its development on the pitching side.  So I'd imagine everything we're talking about here the O's most certainly have in house in one way shape or form.

Not the biggest fan of the Cespedes BBQ guys type of humor, but I'll likely listen to this one.  That drawl on Grayson took me by surprise!

 

Interested in what the O's can do in the majors w/ an elite arm.  The pitching prospects of past regimes since the late 1990's have been almost total failures in developing starting pitching.  I don't even want to give them credit for Bedard, because I feel like he made himself into an elite starter after several years in the majors.  I feel like the past top pitching prospects often looked great in AA or even AAA.  Then when they got to the majors, they immediately looked totally unprepared or fell on their face after a short period of success.  Maybe if guys like Arrieta and Gausman had their potential unlocked by the O's, we would be talking about getting back to the World Series after a few years' absence.