Inside Baseball’s Next Analytics Revolution

MLB's player development continues to change. DVR and Eno take the show on the road at Saber Seminar, exploring the evolution of pitching development, the next generation of hitting metrics and the new data that could change how teams evaluate players.

Former MLB pitcher and current University of Oregon Director of Pitching Development Dan Straily joins the show to retrace his career through one of the most transformative eras in pitching. Straily explains how being forced to develop a changeup helped take him from Double-A to the major leagues, how the Astros recognized that his fastball played better at the top of the strike zone and how pitchers gradually gained a better understanding of pitch shapes and movement.

Then Driveline Baseball's Director of Baseball Operations Jack Lambert joins the show to explain one of the emerging frontiers in hitting analysis: bat path grades. How can bat speed, attack angle, attack direction and swing-path data help measure the value of an individual swing? And could metrics like rotational acceleration eventually tell us even more about a hitter's underlying ability?

DVR, Eno and Lambert explore whether bat-path data can eventually become hitting's answer to Stuff+, how quickly swing metrics stabilize and why this type of information could become especially valuable for evaluating amateur and minor-league hitters before traditional statistics provide enough information.

Rates & Barrels is your home for MLB analysis, advanced stats, player development, fantasy baseball and the evolving ways teams understand the game with Derek VanRiper and Eno Sarris.

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Hosts: Derek VanRiper & Eno Sarris

Executive Producer: McEnroe Francis

Editor: McEnroe Francis

***SORRY FOR DVR's Audio at the top. His mic cable had an issue. Was fixed after his first statement.

00:00 — Dan Straily & the Evolution of Pitching Development

01:15 — Being Forced to Develop a Changeup

03:17 — How the Astros Unlocked Straily’s Fastball

04:47 — When Pitch Design Doesn't Fit the Pitcher

08:21 — Why Triple-A Made Straily a Better Pitcher

10:01 — Are Young Pitchers Too Focused on Stuff+?

12:03 — Straily, Driveline & the Weighted-Ball Battle

13:28 — Reinventing Himself in the KBO

15:34 — How Straily’s Playing Career Shaped His Coaching

19:02 — Jack Lambert & Driveline’s Bat Path Grades

20:11 — What Is a Bat Path Grade?

21:43 — How Predictive Is Bat Path Data?

23:20 — Rotational Acceleration vs. Bat Speed

25:43 — Can Swing Data Become Hitting’s Stuff+?

29:52 — DVR & Eno’s Biggest Saber Seminar Takeaways

33:43 — Why Anti-Tunneling Works for Some Pitchers

34:32 — The Science Behind Multiple Fastball Shapes

35:38 — The Hidden Differences Between MLB Bats

36:44 — What Really Predicts Stolen Bases?

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