New 'smart mound' can help analyze pitchers' efficiency

FARMINGTON, Conn. (AP) — Central Connecticut pitcher Michael Delease was throwing fastballs inside the Center for Motion Analysis and wasn't getting much movement on his pitches.

His problem was quickly diagnosed by coaches and scientists looking at data gathered by the instrumented pitching mound from which he was throwing, the electrodes attached to his body and the motion-capture cameras in the lab.

A slight arm angle adjustment and moments later, Delease's ball was jumping.

“Just a couple little tweaks and my spin rate went up by a few hundred RPMs," the senior said. “It really improved it. That's leaps and bounds from where I was at."

The Center for Motion Analysis at the Connecticut Children's Medical Center is known in the world of kinesiology for its work with athletes, studying how their bodies move and learning how those motions can impact efficiency and injuries.

For a week in January, researchers there conducted a study of pitchers using a new tool, the “smart” mound, developed by a company called Newtforce.

The mound, really an instrumented ramp, measures ground forces generated during each part of a pitch, from wind-up to follow-through.

When linked to the bio-sensors placed on a pitcher's body and the motion-capture cameras at the lab, it provides a powerful new tool for understanding the mechanics of a pitch.

"Pairing these things together is going to give us the most complete understanding of what a pitcher goes through physically,” said Matthew Solomito, a managing research engineer at the lab. "We can now measure pitcher efficiency and see what might make a pitcher at greater risk of injury. And if they are at greater risk of injury, what can we do to make them better?”

In Delease's case, the mound showed something was off with the...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/New-smart-mound-can-help-analyze-pitchers-15044595.php