BachTalk

Episode 1 Season 5 is out with Easton Miller. Easton is currently the head of Strength and Conditioning at KOVA sports. KOVA is an inclusive baseball training center pertaining to Hitting and Throwing development while also focusing on overall athletic health. The overall goal of the facility is to help athletes reach their maximum potential.

KOVA is quickly becoming an influential facility located in Texas. KOVA has implemented an overall education system for the progression of innovative technology and concepts toward player development.

Easton started his career at KOVA as an intern while working under Grant Fowler. Fowler introduced overall French Contrast, Extreme Isometrics, and plyometric training. Easton goes on to explain KOVAs overall implementation of Strength & Conditioning. Easton talks about he programs his athletes within the weight room and pertains to his weekly progressions of athletes.

Easton has implemented a week-by-week programming style working with high school and college athletes. He talks about how to implement proper programs while taking into consideration what athletes are doing at their primary schools. His overall goal is to teach athletes to learn how to listen to their bodies and progress in their overall development holistically.

Timestamps;

- Intro (1:20)

- Background (2:15)

- What is KOVA (6:30)

- Start of KOVA (7:00)

- Start of Internship (9:00)

- Working with passionate owners (11:00)

- How the facility operates from the top down (13:00)

- Progression becoming Head of S&C (15:30)

- Progression of programming (18:00)

- Biggest learning curve towards becoming head of S&C (21:30)

- Program within High School athletes (23:30)

- How to get athletes to trust you (26:30)

- Teaching athletes to listen to their bodies (28:30)

- Programming Style (30:45)

- Using Non-Linear Periodization (34:30)

- Plyometrics (39:00)

- Why hanging is so important (44:00)

- Technology within KOVA (46:45)

- Facility interactions between coaches (53:35)

- Organization towards athletes (57:45)

- Player Development within the next 5 years (60:45)

- Closing (67:45)

Episode 36 Season 4 is out with Noah Junis. Noah is currently the assistant director of pitching at Premier Pitching Performance located in Wentzville, MO. Before working at PPP, he was the Pitching Director at Push Performance in Tempe, AZ. While his overall first coaching position was at Illinois Central College.

Noah talks about his overall start in coaching and how he overall progressed into pitching development. Noah explains what overall role is entailed at Push Performance and how it was such an eye-opening experience within biomechanics, S&C, and movement assessments.

Noah explains what Premier Pitching Performance is in relation to private sector facilities. PPP has become well known for its overall assessment of biomechanical data, strength vs power evaluation, and pitch design. Over the past couple of years, PPP has become a consultant towards collegiate programs helping with the overall assessment process and program design.

Timestamps:

- Intro (1:20)

- Background (2:20)

- Illinois Central College (3:00)

- Initial coaching learning curves (4:35)

- Push Performance Experience (6:40)

- Initial jump working with professional athletes (9:10)

- Programming process at Push Performance (11:30)

- Learning how to utilize biomechanical, anatomical, and human physiology methods (14:05)

- What is Premier Pitching Performance (16:15)

- Working with different colligate programs (20:00)

- Working with college pitching coaches toward developmental programs (22:00)

- Communication between PPP and Collegiate programs (25:00)

- Data interpretation towards PPP (27:15)

- Program style from data interpretation or first movement quality (30:00)

- Progression of pitchers over the next 5 years (31:30)

- Is coding going to be a priority for pitching coaches (35:00)

- How is data changing the culture of college programs (39:00)

- Bridging the gap between biomechanics and pitching (43:00)

Season 4 Episode 35 is out with Alex Reynolds. He is currently a pitching intern at Cressey Sports Performance located in Palm Beach Gardens, FL. He graduated from Babson College with a M.S. in Business Analytics. While also graduating B.A. in a Business Analytics and Finance. He played 5 years of college baseball at Babson and his main position was a catcher

Alex talks about why he picked business analytics as a major and why it's such a good degree for future analytically mindset individuals. During his time at Babson, he underwent Tommy John Surgery. During this time, Alex along with Eric Schoenberg wanted to create a platform for athletes to share their experiences and offer support with their TJ Surgery & rehab process.

Alex explains his overall role at Cressey and what the future of CSP Pitching entails. Within Cressey, Alex is able to dive completely into the development side of pitching while using his analytical skills to provide value within overall player progression profiles.

Timestamps

Intro (1:20)

Alex's background includes – M.S. in Business Analytics and Playing Career (2:30)

Tommy John Experience and Tommy John Club (4:45)

Business Analytics experience within the school including projects & simulations (9:00)

Favorite Computer Languages and what he uses at Cressey SP (11:30)

Why Business Analytics is one of the best routes for a future career (15:25)

Overall role as a pitching intern at Cressey Sports Performance (19:30)

Using catching background towards pitching development (22:00)

Cressey Pitching Performance Player Reports (28:00)

Stuff + metric towards player development (31:00)

The biggest learning curve working at Cressey SP (35:30)

Favorite sabermetrics towards pitching (39:30)

Favorite Player Development technology (43:20)

Player Development progression over the next 5 years (47:00)

Closing (50:00)

Season 4 Episode 34 is out with Colton Lovelace. Colton is the Director of Analytics and Video at Oklahoma State University. Colton began his overall path to Oklahoma State University starting at Kansas University as an equipment manager. He eventually worked his way up to becoming the Director of Analytics and implemented technologies such as Rapsodo, TrackMan, BATS! & Edgertronic Cameras.

Colton spent the summer of 2021 working in the Appalachian League working as a Data and Video Intern. Colton furthered his overall knowledge of player development technologies and data throughout his internship.

Colton goes in-depth into his overall experience within Oklahoma State University. He talks about his overall interview with OSU that including the entire coaching staff and OSU's 2022 season which includes a top 10 ranking.

Colton talks about what has made Oklahoma State so successful over the past 2 years. He talks about the overall data technology implementations they have used, data interpretations towards player development, and the scouting strategy they have used.

Timestamps:

Intro (1:00)

Appalachian League Experience (2:00)

Equipment Manager to Director of Player Development at Kansas University (5:30)

Intro to Oklahoma State (8:15)

Initial Interview with Oklahoma State University coaching staff (10:00)

OSU's 2022 season (14:00)

Overall role as Director of video and analytics (18:00)

Intro into Advance Scouting and Player Development (19:00)

Player Development Technology Implementation at Oklahoma State (20:00)

Edgertronic Camera usage (22:00)

Data Interpretation towards players (25:00)

Scouting Reports (28:00)

Why R is so important for an organization (30:00)

Biggest learning curves within internships (36:10)

Favorite Technology for Player Development and Scouting (40:00)

What does Scouting and Player Development look like in 5 years (47:00)

Pitching Analytics (60:00)

Season 4 Episode 33 is out with Marek Ramilo. Marek is currently a Quantitative Trader. He is also an R&D Analyst with Driveline baseball working with overall player projections and finishing his degree from the University of Chicago in Financial Mathematics.

Marek graduated from Yale University with a BA in Economics. Marek talks about his time at Yale and explains how he decided to get into trading. Marek explains what exactly a Quantitative Trader does and why it is such an interesting position to be in.

Marek played baseball in high school but didn't realize how quantitative theories can help play into overall player progression models until a couple of years ago. Since he has become fascinated with using his ideology within baseball.

Marek talks about how the MLB draft can become so Quantitative based in the future and why two-way players might become the future towards front office organizations.

Time Stamps:

Background (1:00)

BA from Yale in Economics

MS from the University of Chicago in Financial Mathematics

Current profession Quantitative Trader

What exactly is a Quantitative Trader (3:45)

• What is your role as a Trader? (4:46)
• Why this goes allowing with Driveline research (5:30)
• What exactly is a Quantitative Trader? (7:30)
• Pitch Level Data (9:05)

Josiah Gray Outline (11:25)

School Background (14:10)

• Yale – Why Economics (14:20)
• Why did you pick Trading (15:20)

Driveline

• Role within Driveline (21:53)
• Quantitative theories towards player projections (23:00)
• Sabermetrics within player development (28:30)
• Player projection models (34:00)
• How does your schedule look like working at Driveline and Trading (41:00)

Future of Baseball Analytics (45:00)

• Analytics towards Player development & MLB Draft (46:30)
• 2 ways the future of the MLB Draft (50:32)

Moeller Analytics

• How it started and ongoing process (54:00)
• Deciding what technology to use (55:00)
• Technology integration throughout the first year (57:00)
• What does 2023 look like (58:30)
• What does the future look like at Moeller (60:00)
• What is our overall goal or 2-year plan (62:00)
• Keys to having an analytic organization (71:00)

Closing

Season 4 Episode 32 is out with Frank Andrews. Frank is currently a High Performance Development Coach at Baseball Ireland & Irish National Baseball Team Head Coach. Frank obtained his BS in Exercise Science/Biology at Concordia University and MS in Strength and Conditioning from Limerick Institute of Technology.

Frank explains specifically how the National Team operates and his experience within the European Pool Qualifiers. Frank talks about his experience within Strength & Conditioning and the differences between USA and Abroad. Frank explains how he originally got the job with Baseball Ireland and how he started to expand the Irish Baseball Academy.

Frank is a very independent think about Strength & Conditioning and Baseball. Frank talks how he is creating adaptations towards his athletes in order to maximize their baseball playing abilities. Frank goes in-depth talking about his philosophies towards throwing and why anatomically throwing originates anteriorly rather than posteriorly.

Timestamps

Background: (02:00)

• Startup within baseball and strength and conditioning: (02:20)
• Injuries (4:00)
• Concordia University Minor in Chemistry and BS in Exercise Science/Biology (5:00)
• MS in Strength and Conditioning from Limerick Institute of Technology (07:20)
• Experience starting in Ireland and baseball abroad (08:10)
• Strike zone facility (10:15)

Ireland (12:10)

• MS program structure (12:10)
• Strength and Conditioning US vs Abroad (14:20)
• Popularity of baseball within Ireland (21:20)
• Growth of baseball over the next 5 years (25:10)

High Performance Development Coach (30:20)

• Development of baseball Ireland and establishing a high-performance environment? (31:00)
• Irish National team (34:00)
• Development programs ideology (38:00)
• In-depth analysis of programming style (42:30)
• Mountain Builder Bench Description (44:40)
• Description of throwing ideology using the perfect throw (48:12)
• Cueing ideology (57:30)

Throwing discussion

• Why the arm is more important than what people think (60:00)
• Evolution of the shoulder from monkeys into humans (61:10)
• Why monkeys can't actually throw and the main function of their shoulders (63:20)
• Development of sternoclavicular joint and why throwing originates anteriorly rather than posteriorly (64:20)
• Training and understanding the eccentric motion of the throw (75:00)
• Baseball training philosophy adaptation from the past 5-10 years (82:40)
• Player Development over the next 5 years and why data interpretation is more important than technology (87:00)

Closing (98:30)

Season 4 Episode 31 is out with Benjamin Jones. He is currently a Sports Scientist at Driveline Baseball located in Kent, WA. Benjamin obtained his MA and BS in Exercise & Kinesiology from the University of Puget Sound and San Jose State University. Benjamin has an extensive background within his internship route ranging from high school, college, and professional levels. These included Albany high school located in Albany, CA, St. Mary's College located in Moraga, CA, San Jose Sharks, and the University of Utah.

The Sports Scientist role has become a huge part of professional and college organizations. A Sports Scientist's background can range on many different levels from academic to former strength coach. Data has become a huge integration piece of sports towards the overall evaluation of sport. Ben goes on to explain his experience learning how to code and the overall hurdles he had to accomplish.

Driveline baseball has become the data-driven center for baseball player development. Ben talks about his experience working in the Motion Capture Lab every day and why it is so important for Driveline Baseball. He talks about how important data is in the sport of baseball and why it's only going to grow over time.

I really enjoyed my time talking to Benjamin and learning about the growing field of Sports Science!

Timestamps:

BS in Kinesiology and Exercise Science at the University of Puget Sound

MA in Kinesiology and Exercise Science at San Jose State University

Background (2:20)

• Albany High School (Albany, CA)
• St. Mary's College (Moraga, CA)
• San Jose Sharks
• University of Utah

What is a sports scientist (Want the audience to understand) (20:00)

• What is a sports scientist
• Proper background
• Coding background (18:39)

Sports Science at Driveline (33:39)

• Explain the Motion Capture Lab
• How are you presenting the information to athletes (38:35)
• Working in Unison with Throwing trainers and High Performance Trainers

Recent Studies: (45:20)

• Recent study of Pelvis and Torso Biomechanics associated with Pitch Velocity at Puget Sound

Player Development within 2 years

• What does the future look like
• How are colleges going to adapt

2-4 years player development (58:20)

Closing

Season 4 Episode 30 is out with Carter Hohn. Carter is currently the Throwing Coordinator at BRX Performance location in Milwaukee, WI. During his college career, Carter attended 4 different schools. Carter graduated from Central Christian College of Kansas with a BS in Kinesiology & Exercise Science. During his college career, Carter trained at Driveline for about 6 months learning how to progress in his own player development.

BRX Performance is a baseball facility that specializes in custom S&C and throwing programs. BRX does a fantastic job of combining the role of S&C with throwing allowing for overall exceptional workload management. Carter talks about how BRX shows the continuing education factor towards the facility by having staff meetings every morning and breaking down current clients' deficiencies in throwing & in the weight room.

Carter talks about BRX's style of programming explaining how the facility leans heavily towards using plyos. BRX wants the athlete to work through basic primary movements of the throwing and heavy emphasis on workload management. One of the main goals for the facility is for each athlete to understand how to manage their workload throughout each season.

Timestamps:

Located In Milwaukee, WI

Playing career (want to hear your story) (1:10)

• 4 school experience
• BS in Kinesiology & Exercise Science from Central Christian College of Kansas
• Driveline experience (3:57)

Facility vs College (10:30)

• Benefits of working at a Facility
• There are die hard facility coaches and die hard college coaches (Want to hear your opinion)?

Programming Style: Plyos, medballs, or core velocity (we will both go into detail our thoughts)

• overall eval process? (20:46)
• explain the overall logical reason behind this (26:52)
• More emphasis towards lower half? (39:16)
• Custom programs at BRX, how do you pump athletes in and out of the facility (30:00)

Programming connecting between you and the strength coaches

• Process? (44:35)
• How does the facility work within the style
• Creating adaptations towards the athlete that coincide with each other

Future of player development? (50:27)

Closing

Season 4 Episode 29 is out with Jordan Oseguera. Jordan is currently the Director of High Performance at Armcare.com. Jordan has an extensive background working in professional baseball. Before working in professional baseball, Jordan worked for the National Pitching Association. This gave him the honor of working with Tom House and learning his styles of player development progression.

Jordan had an interesting experience working in professional baseball. During his time, he worked in the Los Angeles Angels organization working in multiple roles from Assistant Programs Manager, Pitching Coach, Professional Scouting, Amateur Scouting, and Pitching analyst. Jordan assisted in designing pitching development programs. He helped introduce innovative tools to track the progression of pitchers. This would allow for the organization to grow as a whole and lower pitching injuries within the organization.

Jordan has become an innovative name in the pitching industry. As director of high performance for ArmCare.com, he assists with the overall onboarding and implementation of testing, training, and tracking within professional & collegiate baseball. ArmCare.com is truly changing the way pitchers take care of their arms in a custom manner.

Jordan Oseguera (Director of High Performance at Armcare.com)

Intro:

Background:

National Pitchers Association & Tom House (3:05)

Pitching Coach LA Angels (5:30)

- Experience in the minor leagues?

- Levels that you coached.

- How progressive was the organization during this time?

Pitching Analyst LA Angels (8:00)

- Explain what a pitching analyst is? (Data, Programming, Technology Implementation)

- Development process?

- Implementation of pitch design?

- What technologies were implemented and goal towards tracking overall trends in the org?

Current:

ArmCare.com Technology (21:00)

- Explanation of the technology

- Why data collection towards your arm health is more important than people think?

- Why can this change player development in the current game?

Role as Director of High Performance (41:48)

- Overview of the position

- Implementation towards organization and universities

Research and player development (49:00)

- Recent studies?

- Recent post about salary loss towards professional organizations?

- Organizations Investment towards professional organization staff development?

- What do you see progressing towards player development in the next 5 years?

Closing

Season 4 Episode 28 is out with Jack Barry. Jack Barry is the owner of Jack Barry Performance. Jack's goal "Is to be able to help all athlete's performance offering quality programming, workload management, nutrition, mental prep, and recovery". Jack became a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist through the National Strength and Conditioning Association in 2021.

Jack has great background playing and working in player development. Jack played college baseball at Salisbury University. He played infield and pitched during his college career. After, his playing career Jack took a position with Tread Athletics. During, this time at Tread athletics he learned what it takes to program a holistic approach and quality programing towards each individual athlete.

Jack decided to leave Tread athletics and pursue a career in broadcasting. He started to broadcast at his former school Salisbury University and broadcasted many different sports during this time. During 2022, Jack decided to take a Director of Media relations job with Cropdusters baseball (Currently in the Cal Ripken Summer Collegiate League). During this time Jack realized that his passion was work one – on – one with athletes.

Jack and I go in-depth talking about pitching development and what areas of development each of us are most interested in. This talk leads into a wide arrange of development strategies. During this time, you can definitely tell that development is Jack's passion.

Timestamps-

Background:

• Tread athletics
• Salisbury University
• Crop dusters baseball

Salisbury University 1:20

Tread Athletics

• Experience (Performance Coach and Athlete Representative) 3:35
• Coaching 80+ (experience) 7:10
• Business side of a facility? (Biggest take aways) 9:30
• Experience obtaining CSCS (everyone has a story) 13:00

Crop Duster Baseball Director of Media and Internships 21:33

• Broadcasting 22:00
• Experience 25:00

Jack Barry Performance 33:50

• What made you start your own performance company 34:00
• Business model? 38:45
• Plan towards obtaining clients? 40:57

Pitching development

• Holistic approach (what is your favorite area - pitch design, mechanical, S&C) 45:51
• Evaluate of a pitcher discussion (sabermetrics, Movement assessment, pitch design) 52:07
• What have you been diving into recently or studying? 55:47

Closing