Driveline R&D Podcast

Fun episode this week that gets into the nitty gritty of one of Driveline's fastest growing products - Driveline Academy! Had Jeremy Tecktiel, Asst Dir of Dirveline Academy (past TRAQ Project Manager for the software heads in audience!), come on and talk the tradeoff of teaching kids to throw and hit harder versus prioritizing winning as many games as possible at the youth level as well as the trials and tribulations of getting such a large and complex product off the ground...now in multiple locations! (WA & AZ) Also swapped loose stories of both of our mascot backgrounds and trivia triumps (or lack thereof!).

Timestamps:

0:00 Intros & Light Degen Talk

3:03 Jeremy's Background & Academy Product

6:05 On Field Challenges for Driveline's Academy Team...Sure we're hitting/throwing harder but how do we handle bunts??

10:20 Balance Value of Future Player Dev'l vs Winning Games Right Now

12:20 Communications & Expectations with Parents

17:45 Current Academy Team and Tryouts Construction

30:58 Driveline Academy's Unique Warmups (Which Plyos Do We Use?)

33:53 Value of Massive High Fidelity Youth Datasets (MoCap, Pulse, Blast, etc)

38:51 Jeremy's Background As A Mascot!!

41:45 Cara's Background As A Mascot!!!

46:15 Jeremy the TriviaMaster

53:10 Harry Potter Trivia Story + Extended HP Rambling

1:05:44 Driveline Academy in AZ

1:13:45 Training the Youth on Defense

1:17:05 Training Youth Command + Youth Umpire Stoies (Including Jeremy being tossed!!)

1:22:00 Academy Strategy on Breaking Balls

Twitterz:

Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan

Jeremy Tecktiel: https://twitter.com/jeremytecktiel

Timestamps

5:20 Herz's background + KBO talk

8:00 Herz's Initial Exp/Impression with DL

9:40 Past Biz DL deals with KBO + Herz's Time W/ Dodgers

13:55 ChatGPT answers

15:25 Hitting Dept Evolution over last year

21:00 Driveline's MLB Product on Hitting Side

24:25 Hi-Speed Machines More Common Now?

30:15 Cara Tells Boddy's fave Winter Meetings Stories/Memes

33:55 Driveline's Advantage Plan Offering + Lars Nootbaar Success Story

39:16 Recovery/Health Based Approach to Coaching MLB Hitters

42:45 History and Success of Smash Factor Balls

52:45 Herz's Impression of Seattle

Twitterz:

Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan

Tanner Stokey: https://twitter.com/Tstokey

Andrew Aydt: https://twitter.com/AndrewAydt

Josh Herzenberg: https://twitter.com/joshherzenberg

Had Driveline's new Director of Pitching, Chris Langin, on to talk how much the MLB Product has exploded, the overall department growth and responsibilities that come with being a Director, what pitchers are saying about the pitch clock and its effects + just how popular the Sweeper is going to get! Also check out the video version for Langin's beer bottle opening skills...we also made up for the podcast break with some very quality rural/urban parallel degen drink talk!

Timestamps:

0:00 Intros + Langin almost opens a beer bottle with his teeth!!

3:03 Kershaw Curve still dicing?

7:57 Degen drink talk throwback

13:25 Langin on animals + Growing up in Nebraska

19:00 Langin as Dir of Pitching

31:35 DL Pitching Dept Growth

39:45 How Langin and DL Pitching approaches MLB Advance Scouting

45:25 Insider View on MLB Pitchers reacting to rule changes?

48:30 BABIP Victims: Jansen, Brash???

53:30 Common Fan SSS reactions + NBA playoffs talk

1:00:00 Sweepers and Slurves as new PT's -> effect across the league?

1:11:00 Going out (not) in AZ...Angels GM sighting out in the wild?

Twitters:

Had Mitch Viydo, past Driveline trainee and Player Development Coordinator and Chief of Immaculate Training Floor Vibes. Shot the shit talking about his cup with the MS, winning the NBC World Series with the Seattle Studs, the upcoming rule changes (chatter puts the D more than the R in Research & Drinks, be warned), and some good ol' Driveline nostalgia reminiscing. May or may have had to make a couple of cuts in there! *insert that one emoji withe the monkey covering its mouth*

Timestamps:

3:00 Mitch Playing Background

5:37 Mitch with the Ms Organization

12:09 Mitch's career with the Seattle Studs

16:40 2109 NBC World Series Win + Brady broken rib

22:28 Hunting down the right location for the AZ facility

26:10 Pitching In Crocs

27:40 What Can Mitch Throw Right Now?

29:15 Hot Takes on 2023 MLB Rule Changes

36:15 Impact On Fan Interest

40:15 Shift Ban Impact On Strategy

45:35 How Cara Started At DL

54:30 Mitch Starting In Gym Ops + Driveline Nostalgia Talk

57:30 Mitch Contractor Stories (Behind The Scenes On The TF Product)

Twitters:

Alex Caravan -- https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan

Mitch Viydo -- https://twitter.com/mviydo

Had the legend Gary on -- will fill out this description more and drop timestamps when I'm not running late to a rendezvous (aka Tuesday morning). But v fun one talking about the research we've done on catcher framing, how Driveline trains catchers, the changing perception on catchers, Driveline's current Hitting Assessments and some throwback CR story classics from the Massage Ball to the Cod ;)   

Timestamps 

0:00 Intros 

2:30 Gary's Intro to DL 

4:25 Driveline's OG Hitting Environment 

8:07 Driveline 2023 Hitting Training Approaches and Drills 

13:08 The State of Catching Research and Training  

16:13 Exchange vs Ball Flight Time 

20:57 Low Hanging Fruit on Position Player Throwing and Workload 

22:55 Do Catchers get the yips?? 

25:25 What's Hard To Catch? 

28:28 Driveline's Behind The Scenes Framing Research 

34:24 One Knee Getting More Popular? 

38:00 Statcast Catching Metrics & Mainstream Framing WAR  

41:22 Favorite Catchers + Brad Penny callback 

45:10 Driveline Customer Relations Legendary Stories 

57:50 Force Plates re: DL Hitting

Twitters: Alex Caravan -- https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan Maxx Garrett -- https://twitter.com/XX_Garrett

A bit of a different pod this week -- had my friend and colleague-in-data Jason Lieb of MMAI Fight Analytics, or the early Driveline (data-driven disruptor) of MMA on. Jason's been leading the drive on investigative journaling in the seedy world of the fight business as well as deep data dives in strike by strike analysis -> we've collaborated in the past on some MMA data analysis, but we spent a good chunk of this wide ranging podcast talking about the UFC's gambling problem, modern day loopholes in MMA regulation, an in depth look at Jon Jones's career and this weekend's return against past UFC Heavyweight Interim Champ Cyril Gane, as well as a lightning fast breakdown of the rest of UFC 285. Meant to talk more baseball but had too much fun chopping it up on the UFC side and ran out of time -- let me know what you guys think of this episode and if you're interested in more cross-sports pods!

Timestamps:  

0:00 Intros 

1:27 Jason starting MMAI + MVP Machine Inspiration 

4:00 The UFC's Gambling Problem 

14:00 UFC Wild West 

20:13 UFC Turning 30 + Back to Gambling Problem and USADA Legitimacy 

26:50 Conor McGregor Transformation + Chandler Fight Prediction 

36:05 Jiri record breaking USADA tests 

37:32 Jon Jones's Return 

41:35 Jason's breakdown of Jones's style and progression 

57:53 Jones/Gane Prediction 

1:01:20 Future of UFC Heavyweight Division 

1:04:20 UFC 285 Picks  

Twitters: 

Alex Caravan -- https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan 

Jason Leib -- https://twitter.com/mmai_analytics

Had the homie Josh Hejka on, victim of a Franchy Cordero 116+ EV batted ball, along with all the other current titles he holds in the title of this episode. Hejka's one of the smartest, most self-aware players I know, chill af to sit down with him and hear him riff bluntly on the state of analytics in minor league baseball, his experience going through rehab, and adding to his always evolving arsenal. Enjoy and let me know if you enjoy the player episodes, will try to have a bunch more here soon.   

Timestamps

0:00 Intro 

2:05 Why Hejka Got TJ 

3:25 How Hejka Became A Sidearmer + Cara Weird Flex on Middle School SATs 

6:48 How Hejka's Arsenal Changed Over The Years 

8:05 Being Deep Into Analytics & Tech and Applying It To Your Own Playing Career 1

2:10 'Pitch Design'ing Hejka's New Slider 

14:05 Hejka's Last year: A+ to AA to AAA 

15:58 MiLB Life Grind Stories 

23:30 Getting Hot Quick

26:15 Current Baseball Players' Understanding of Tech and Analytics 

29:15 What has Hejka Learned From Analyst POV? 

30:45 Day to day rehab right now 

31:55 Advanced Scouting Deliverables 

35:17 Detroit Sports 

40:48 Traumatizing At Bat against Franchy Cordero

Had Kyle Wasserberg (Driveline Principal Sports Scientist) on -- talked new direction of sports science, the new intern class, Driveline markerless biomechanics sabermetric models, and the upcoming SABR presentation (March 11; Phoenix, AZ) as well as a recent conference presentation Wass hit last week! (Also ya boi's gonna try to snag a bunch of in-person pods at SABR so if you want to be on or link up drop me a line on Twitter!) Also...cat fans may want to tune in for this one is all I'll say ;)  

P.S. Little bit of background audio noise when Wass is talking here and there -- sorry! Will be more on top of it going forward  

Timestamps:  

0:00 Intros + Light Degen Drink Talk 

3:40 Sports Sci Incoming Intern Class 

7:02 Markerless Biomech Models: Deception, Mechanic Similarity, Pitch Tipping 

17:00 Sports Sci Marker Gap Detection Work 

22:10 SABR Presentation Talk + ISBS Conference Recap 

23:38 Conference Slides Screensharing Starts 

31:55 Star Wars Talk 

34:25 Live Gameplanning for SABR Presentation 

37:10 Driveline Markerless Lab Updates? 

40:45 SABR Speaker List + Saturday Morning Presentation Time Prep 

44:40 Hockey Talk 

Follow the homies' twitters: 

Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan 

Kyle Wasserberger: https://twitter.com/kww_DL

Well...changing of the guard :cry-emjo:. Ya boi is manning this pod w/o his past vaunted co-hosts, let's see how this ish goes! First episode back had the new heads of Driveline R&D: Kyle Boddy, Max Engelbrekt, and Garrett York. Talked shift in vision and focus of both the pod and Driveline Research and Development, TRAQ in Australia, OpenBiomechanics, plus some department hiring updates.  

Link to the OpenBiomechanics Repo: https://github.com/drivelineresearch/openbiomechanics  

Timestamps:

0:00 Intros + Host Change 

1:50 New R&D Direction 

8:45 Max's Australia Trip and Expanding TRAQ around the globe 

12:05 Boddy's Sports Science Vision (Gap Detection, Forward Dynamics) 

18:15 Caravan and Wasserberger SABR presentation + Open  Biomechanics 

21:45 Other tech OpenSource data to follow 

24:50 TRAQ In-season focus 

28:00 Mobile Development Future 

31:05 Looking back on initial TRAQ vision 

34:15 Driveline EDGE (Paid and Free) plans 

37:10 Driveline EDU product stack 

38:45 Driveline Sports Science Intern Class 

41:48 Driveline Data Science Hiring Process Update + ChatGPT applicant story  

46:40 Max just put a ring on it??

Follow the homies' twitters: 

Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan 

Kyle Boddy: https://twitter.com/drivelinebases 

Max Engelbrekt: https://twitter.com/maxengelbrekt 

Garrett York: https://twitter.com/GarrettYork31

Episode 90 of the Driveline R&D Podcast with Anthony Brady, Alex Caravan, and Kyle Lindley!

With guests: Alex Harter and Max Engelbrekt!  Use promo code: good2learn25 for $25 off on Driveline PLUS! https://www.drivelinebaseball.com/product/plus-subscription/

Today we have Director of Pitching Bill Hezel and Coordinator of Player Development Analytics David Besky on the podcast to talk new Plyoballs that are being released, how they can be used to better individualize training and achieve better results, the tools we've created to determine which weights each player should throw, and some general updates on in-gym training + second half predictions!

Good episode talking a lot about player development plan individualization, enjoy!

Timestamps

Link to the hosts' Twitters: