This offseason, free agent relief pitcher Craig Breslow paired his analytical nature with some-cutting edge technology to try and breathe new life into his fading major league career.
Rapsodo Baseball is a portable high-speed camera system that uses radar data to quantify the trajectory of a baseball as it leaves a pitcher’s hand. Beyond ball flight, the system tracks the spin rate, spin efficiency, spin axis and velocity of a pitch.
Breslow was an 11-year MLB veteran of seven different organizations who sought out Rapsodo to kick start his effectiveness. The 36-year-old logged bullpen sessions in the offseason with his iPad at the ready, according to the Pioneer Press. On the ground at his feet, it paired with Rapsodo’s hardware near home plate and gave him spin and movement feedback after pitches.
The goal was a breaking ball that would be more deceptive to left-handed hitters, and a sinker with more movement on the horizontal plane, according to the report.
The lefty studied his peers that were excelling around him. Particularly, fellow southpaws Zach Britton and Andrew Miller. The former’s sinker and the latter’s breaking ball rank tops in a field of Major League talent.
“To say, ‘I’m going to try to make Andrew Miller’s breaking ball,’ would probably have been a fool’s errand, given that he’s 6-foot-8 with longer levers, longer fingers, etc.,” Breslow told the Boston Herald. “But to say, ‘This type of breaking ball, from this slot with this action, is an effective one, let’s see how close we can get to that,’ is a much more plausible undertaking.”
Breslow won a spot on the Minnesota Twins roster, and nearly a month into the young 2017 season, some results are in. The sample size is micro, but it’s worth noting some differences that sabermetrics have unearthed from Breslow’s performance thus far.
(Credit: Screenshot from TexasLeaguers.com)
(Credit: Screenshot from TexasLeaguers.com)
Get The Latest MLB Tech News In Your Inbox!
Comparing Breslow’s 77 pitches thus far in 2017 to his workload from 2015 reveals plenty of similarities, but a few intriguing differences. While Breslow’s sinker (FT) saw only a minimal change in horizontal movement (.74 inches) following his Rapsodo overhaul, there seems to be reason to believe his breaking ball may have taken a new shape.
According to PITCHf/x data from the two seasons, Breslow’s 2017 breaking ball (CU) has an additional 5.3 inches of horizontal movement compared to the same offering in 2015, and the pitch’s documented spin rate is 368 RPM higher than it was in 2015. Higher spin rates translate to sharper movements and usually more swings and misses.
Breslow wouldn’t be the first to experience a resurgence after some focus on spin rate. In 2013, the Houston Astros claimed right hander Collin McHugh off waivers from the Colorado Rockies. Houston’s analytics department took notice of an exceptional spin rate on McHugh’s curve ball, and deemed it deserved extra attention in his arsenal. Early career struggles transformed into a dominant 2014 campaign with the Astros in which he won 11 games.
Devices like Rapsodo are making it possible for players to access information that was once only available to front office members and high level executives, but measuring statistics is one thing and getting major league hitters out is another ball game altogether.
“I can know quantifiably or statistically that I’ve made improvements based on the way that I define improvements,” Breslow told Sports Illustrated. “I can improve my breaking ball using the metrics that Rapsodo is capable of measuring, but until I throw it to a hitter in a game, I won’t totally know.”