A recent study published in The American Journal of Sports Medicine reinforces the value of pitch-tracking technology by showing how difficult it is for players to estimate their effort level.
Coaches and trainers commonly instruct pitchers to throw at 50% or 75% of their top speed. But the latest research showed that 60 high school and college pitchers—all of them wearing Motus sensors in compression sleeves—greatly exceeded their targets on the radar gun. For every perceived 25% reduction in effort, pitchers only reduced elbow torque by 7% and velocity by 11%.
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“Ultimately, when players throw at what they perceive to be reduced effort, their actual throwing metrics do not decrease at the same rate as their perceived exertion, and this has significant implications for their recovery,” Dr. Christopher Camp, a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon and the study’s corresponding author, said in a statement.
The study was led by the Mayo Clinic and received partial financial support from Major League Baseball. Also contributing were two sports medicine physicians at the Hospital for Special Surgery, American Sports Medicine Institute research director Glenn Fleisig, Conte Injury Analytics’ Stan Conte (a longtime Los Angeles Dodgers trainer and medical chief), and John D’Angelo, an MLB director of league economics and strategy who has overseen data-drive efforts to reduce the need for Tommy John surgery. (Though the Motus sleeve was used in the study, the tech company was not directly involved in the research.)
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When New York Yankees pitcher James Paxton was with the Seattle Mariners last year, he began using the Motus sleeve to track his workload between starts. He wore the sensor in spring training games to approximate full intensity and therefore had a baseline to which he could compare his lesser-effort throws in between games. Paxton found that he was overexerting himself in practice and adjusted accordingly, to great effect.
Similarly, a former Catapult Sports executive shared a story two years ago about coaches telling young pitchers to throw 25 pitches in bullpen sessions—but its wearable data showed that most exceeded that allotment.
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Such inability to make accurate estimates can be attributed to any number of cognitive biases, which is not limited only to pitching. But recent research and anecdotes strengthen the need for objective data—typically gleaned with technology—to ensure that training programs are followed as prescribed.
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