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What is a Seam-Shifted Wake Pitch (in simple terms)?

You may have heard of the “Laminar Express” as Trevor Bauer used to call it, or the Seam-Shifted Wake (“SSW”) as it has been called more recently. During the past few years, we have begun to really understand the seam-shifted wake.  If you’ve been wondering what it’s all about and how it impacts pitcher’s ball movement, this article is for you, as we cover:

    • The History
    • How to Throw a SSW
    • Technology and SSW
    • How it’s Observed
    • Examples

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Podcast: Merging Data with Application with Iowa’s Pitching Coach Lund

My guest today is Robin Lund, pitching coach at the University of Iowa.  Lund is in his fifth season as an assistant coach at Iowa, including having previously worked with the hitters and outfielders during his first season. Lund earned his Bachelor’s Degree in education from Whitworth College and his Master’s Degree in Exercise Science from Eastern Washington. He earned his PhD in Exercise Physiology at the University of Idaho.

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Podcast: Covering the Bucket List to Maximize Performance with John Wagle

My guest today is John Wagle, Associate Athletics Director of Sports Performance at Notre Dame University. Today, we’ll be talking about maximizing the relationship within sports performance areas to impact baseball players through enhancing the collaborative efforts between strength and conditioning, nutrition, athletic training and sports psychology.

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Podcast: Taking the JUCO Route and Player Development with Coach Bomber

Today we’re going to sit down with Coach “Bomber” from powerhouse JUCO, Sacramento City Community College on the West Coast. We are going to explore what it means to enroll in a junior college program instead of heading straight into a 4-year school, among other topics. JUCO could be a great option for many high school athletes for a variety of reasons and this podcast is a great listen on the topic.

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Podcast: Long Term Athletic Development with Pirates Catcher Nick Cimillo

Today we’re sitting down and talking with Rutgers catcher Nick Cimillo. He was twice named Player of the Year and MAAC Preseason Player of the Year (in his first 2 years of college ball).  He also earned Collegiate Baseball Freshmen All-American, MAAC Rookie of The Year and All-MAAC First Team in 2019. He most recently transferred to Rutgers this past year, where, as a red-shirt Junior he has blown the roof off, holding a .385 batting average and a slugging pct of over 700.

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Podcast: Building Explosive Pitchers with Pitching Coach Josh Epstein

My guest today is Josh Epstein, Pitching Coach at the University of Richmond (Spiders) in Virginia. Josh has over 14 years of collegiate coaching experience with previous stops at Lincoln Memorial, Bloomsburg, Ramapo College and Monmouth. In his three seasons at Monmouth, the Hawks finished second in ERA in the MAAC conference, including an overall 3.21 team ERA after the 2021 campaign.

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What is the Most Effective 4-Seam Tilt Axis in MLB?

There is certainly no shortage of data available from MLB for on-field performance by pitchers and players. In this article, we have combined data from several sources, including FanGraphs and Baseball Savant, to help identify the most effective pitch movement patterns in Major League Baseball. More specifically, we analyzed the performance of 4-seam fastballs from major league pitchers during the 2021 season (392 right-handed), by comparing slugging averages against horizontal, vertical movements and tilt axes of fast baseballs.

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Podcast: An In-depth Look into Recruiting with Walter Beede

My guest today is Walter Beede, a very interesting guy, with a baseball career that spans over 40 years, as a player, a coach and a father. He attended Fitchburg high school in Massachusetts, where he was All-New England 1st Team as a high school player. He received a scholarship from Arizona State University and was selected by the Chicago Cubs as a 13th round draft pick in 1981.

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