Jump to content

Orioles Training Staff Named 2023 MLB Staff of Year


Roll Tide

Recommended Posts

7 hours ago, emmett16 said:

These guys are well ahead of the curve in rest science.  It’s not just the workouts and physical routines they do, it’s maximizing the three most important things people often take for granted: rest/recovery, sleep, and nutrition.  People have questioned  how they move people around to different position but it’s not just roster flexibility, it’s having guys (Gunnar) play a less physically demanding positions part of the time.  They maximize their sleep cycles which is done by eliminating all light and sleeping at colder temperatures.  They optimize their nutrition intake depending on where they are in their weekly/daily routines. And lastly they put an emphasis on mobility & flexibility training.  It’s been incredible to watch/. 

Has any of this been reported as actually happening? How do you know that the players are doing this, and how do you know that other teams are not?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

17 hours ago, terpoh said:

Has any of this been reported as actually happening? How do you know that the players are doing this, and how do you know that other teams are not?

A lot of this information comes what I've learned going through Driveline's various certifications and the trainers that work there.  I know some other consultants/coaches/trainers that work with MLB & College players.

I imagine a lot (if not the majority) of teams are doing this.  I think what the O's have done well is recruit the guys that are going to hold themselves accountable and follow this stuff to a 'T'.  They might pick a guy that has a tiny bit less talent, but they know for darn sure that player is going to do everything they prescribe to them to get better & keep themselves healthy and available.  

Edited by emmett16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 12/12/2023 at 3:55 PM, terpoh said:

Has any of this been reported as actually happening? How do you know that the players are doing this, and how do you know that other teams are not?

Check out the Rates & Barrels podcast over in the MLB section.  They touch on a lot of this.  I was actually surprised to hear that not all of the teams, and actually very few of the teams are doing this.  To me, it sounds like the Orioles, Astros, Dodgers, Rays are the cream of the crop.  You also hear mention of the Brewers & Mariners.   But they state very confidently that very few teams are doing these things.  I was very surprised by that.  

Edited by emmett16
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, emmett16 said:

Check out the Rats & Barrels podcast over in the MLB section.  They touch on a lot of this.  I was actually surprised to hear that not all of the teams, and actually very few of the teams are doing this.  To me, it sounds like the Orioles, Astros, Dodgers, Rays are the cream of the crop.  You also hear mention of the Brewers & Mariners.   But they state very confidently that very few teams are doing these things.  I was very surprised by that.  

Thanks for the heads up. I have worked in sports performance for a long time. Spent 15 years working in division 1 college athletics working with all sports, but mostly basketball. Have spent the last few years more in the private sector and work with a number of pro athletes currently. I'm well versed in all the modalities that you are referring to, and I think you would be surprised at how many teams and individual athletes do not value those things. What you will find especially at the professional level, is that these guys are given a ton of autonomy. Some guys choose not to do those things or do some of those things, some guys have the money to afford their own "team" of specialists around them, and some will follow the team program pretty strictly. I would guess that the latter is the least of guys who are pro's and certainly veterans. I do agree with you whole heartedly in that it seems like the Orioles value guys who are bought into the system that they provide, and that cohesiveness shows in their play but also in their preparation. 

Unfortunately- as @Sports Guy touched on, a lot of what happens with injuries is tied to luck. I dont think there are any programs that can "prevent" injuries, you just hope to reduce the likelihood of injuries. From the outside looking in, it seems like that Orioles are certainly monitoring this stuff and doing a lot of the "right" things- but Its risky business as an athletic trainer or a strength coach to tie yourself and your success on injury rates, because its sports, and sometimes things happen. 

All in all, its a great award for those guys, and I know that they have a great reputation throughout the sport. Happy that they are a part of the Orioles. 

Edited by terpoh
  • Upvote 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, terpoh said:

Thanks for the heads up. I have worked in sports performance for a long time. Spent 15 years working in division 1 college athletics working with all sports, but mostly basketball. Have spent the last few years more in the private sector and work with a number of pro athletes currently. I'm well versed in all the modalities that you are referring to, and I think you would be surprised at how many teams and individual athletes do not value those things. What you will find especially at the professional level, is that these guys are given a ton of autonomy. Some guys choose not to do those things or do some of those things, some guys have the money to afford their own "team" of specialists around them, and some will follow the team program pretty strictly. I would guess that the latter is the least of guys who are pro's and certainly veterans. I do agree with you whole heartedly in that it seems like the Orioles value guys who are bought into the system that they provide, and that cohesiveness shows in their play but also in their preparation. 

Unfortunately- as @Sports Guy touched on, a lot of what happens with injuries is tied to luck. I dont think there are any programs that can "prevent" injuries, you just hope to reduce the likelihood of injuries. From the outside looking in, it seems like that Orioles are certainly monitoring this stuff and doing a lot of the "right" things- but Its risky business as an athletic trainer or a strength coach to tie yourself and your success on injury rates, because its sports, and sometimes things happen. 

All in all, its a great award for those guys, and I know that they have a great reputation throughout the sport. Happy that they are a part of the Orioles. 

Great post and good insights.  I do agree that there is definitely luck tied to it.  But just like in poker if you play the percentages things will go in your favor.  You will never be able to completely avoid them, but you should be able to limit them.  I think they do a good job of putting the players in a position where they can be successful and healthy and let the cards fall where they may.  

I do think the thing the O's are doing better than some others, is identifying the guys that will buy in to their programming or at least to outside programming that they believe in.  

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.



  • Posts

    • dWAR is just the run value for defense added with the defensive adjustment.  Corner OF spots have a -7.5 run adjustment, while CF has a +2.5 adjustment over 150 games.    Since Cowser played both CF and the corners they pro-rate his time at each to calculate his defensive adjustment. 
    • Just to be clear, though, fWAR also includes a substantial adjustment for position, including a negative one for Cowser.  For a clearer example on that front, as the chart posted higher on this page indicates, Carlos Santana had a +14 OAA — which is the source data that fWAR’s defensive component is based on. That 14 outs above average equates to 11-12 (they use different values on this for some reason) runs better than the average 1B.  So does Santana have a 12.0 defensive value, per fWAR? He does not. That’s because they adjust his defensive value downward to reflect that he’s playing a less difficult/valuable position. In this case, that adjustment comes out to -11.0 runs, as you can see here:   So despite apparently having a bona fide Gold Glove season, Santana’s Fielding Runs value (FanGraphs’ equivalent to dWAR) is barely above average, at 1.1 runs.    Any good WAR calculation is going to adjust for position. Being a good 1B just isn’t worth as much as being an average SS or catcher. Just as being a good LF isn’t worth as much as being an average CF. Every outfielder can play LF — only the best outfielders can play CF.  Where the nuance/context shows up here is with Cowser’s unique situation. Playing LF in OPACY, with all that ground to cover, is not the same as playing LF at Fenway or Yankee Stadium. Treating Cowser’s “position” as equivalent to Tyler O’Neill’s, for example, is not fair. The degree of difficulty is much, much higher at OPACY’s LF, and so the adjustment seems out of whack for him. That’s the one place where I’d say the bWAR value is “unfair” to Cowser.
    • Wait a second here, the reason he's -0.1 in bb-ref dwar is because they're using drs to track his defensive run value.  He's worth 6.6 runs in defense according to fangraphs, which includes adjustments for position, which would give him a fangraphs defensive war of +0.7.
    • A little funny to have provided descriptions of the hits (“weak” single; “500 foot” HR). FIP doesn’t care about any of that either, so it’s kind of an odd thing to add in an effort to make ERA look bad.  Come in, strike out the first hitter, then give up three 108 MPH rocket doubles off the wall. FIP thinks you were absolutely outstanding, and it’s a shame your pathetic defense and/or sheer bad luck let you down. Next time you’ll (probably) get the outcomes you deserve. They’re both flawed. So is xFIP. So is SIERA. So is RA/9. So is WPA. So is xERA. None of them are perfect measures of how a pitcher’s actual performance was, because there’s way too much context and too many variables for any one metric to really encompass.  But when I’m thinking about awards, for me at least, it ends up having to be about the actual outcomes. I don’t really care what a hitter’s xWOBA is when I’m thinking about MVP, and the same is true for pitchers. Did you get the outs? Did the runs score? That’s the “value” that translates to the scoreboard and, ultimately, to the standings. So I think the B-R side of it is more sensible for awards.  I definitely take into account the types of factors that you (and other pitching fWAR advocates) reference as flaws. So if a guy plays in front of a particular bad defense or had a particularly high percentage of inherited runners score, I’d absolutely adjust my take to incorporate that info. And I also 100% go to Fangraphs first when I’m trying to figure out which pitchers we should acquire (i.e., for forward looking purposes).  But I just can’t bring myself say that my Cy Young is just whichever guy had the best ratio of Ks to BBs to HRs over a threshold number of innings. As @Frobby said, it just distills out too much of what actually happened.
    • We were all a lot younger in 2005.  No one wanted to believe Canseco cause he’s a smarmy guy. Like I said, he was the only one telling the truth. It wasn’t a leap of faith to see McGwire up there and Sosa up there and think “yeah, those guys were juicing” but then suddenly look at Raffy and think he was completely innocent.  It’s a sad story. The guy should be in Hall of Fame yet 500 homers and 3,000 hits are gone like a fart in the wind cause his legacy is wagging his finger and thinking he couldn’t get caught.  Don’t fly too close to the sun.  
    • I think if we get the fun sprinkler loving Gunnar that was in the dugout yesterday, I don’t think we have to worry about him pressing. He seemed loose and feeling good with the other guys he was with, like Kremer.
    • I was a lot younger back then, but that betrayal hit really hard because he had been painting himself as literally holier than thou, and shook his finger to a congressional committee and then barely 2 weeks later failed the test.
  • Popular Contributors

×
×
  • Create New...