The use of biomechanics in sports has been a game changer in the past few years, and professional baseball teams are adopting the science in their training, said a Taiwanese biomechanist who worked with the San Francisco Giants.
The Giants, who last year won the MLB National League West title with a franchise record 107 wins, were one of the first MLB teams in the US to hire a biomechanics team to help improve their players’ performance, said Matt Chan, a sports science analyst and the team’s lead biomechanist from 2019 to last year.
Chan said that when he joined the Giants, biomechanics was just taking off in the baseball world, and only about five of the 30 MLB teams had biomechanical specialists.
Photo courtesy of Matt Chan via CNA
Today, more than half have a biomechanical division, which scientifically assesses the players’ performance on the field and analyzes the ball’s trajectory, velocity and direction, among other information, Chan said.
“Our responsibility is to support the coach’s intuition with data, to help the manager make more accurate decisions,” he said.
Sports biomechanics is the science of explaining how and why the human body moves in the way it does. It also extends to how athletes interact with their equipment and environment.
In its early years, sports biomechanics research involved the use of body sensors to monitor athletes’ movements, as well as the collection of data in a laboratory, Chan said.
However, the development of lighter wearable devices and more advanced motion capture technology in the past few years has enabled scientists to collect precise real-time data on pitching, hitting and fielding motions during games, he said.
Rather than relying mainly on subjective evaluations by team coaches, the data collected are used to make precise decisions related to training and playing time, and better asses injury risks, he said.
Biomechanics has broken the mold, meaning that winning or losing a baseball game is no longer just about nine people on the diamond and a few coaches along the foul ball line or in the dugout, Chan said.
Teams are now rushing to recruit scientists such as himself, who sit in front of a computer, watch videos, write computer programs and analyze data, he said, adding that they are valued as behind-the-scenes advisers.
The biomechanics team can design training programs for individual players based on their physical characteristics, flexibility and musculoskeletal condition, he said.
The Giants use their biomechanics team, not only for those tasks, but also to help spot talent and recruit players, Chan said.
With the help of their biomechanics team, the Giants signed free agents who were not highly sought after, and then worked with them using scientific methods, producing good results, Chan said.
One such player was starting pitcher Kevin Gausman. When San Francisco signed him after the 2019 season, during which he had a 3-9 record and a 5.72 earned run average in 31 games for the Atlanta Braves and Cincinnati Reds, it appeared the veteran right-hander’s MLB career had come to an end.
However, with the Giants his earned run average improved to 3.62 during the COVID-19-shortened 2020 season. Last year, he had the best season of his career, with a 14-6 record and 2.81 earned run average.
That earned him a five-year US$110 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, Chan said.
Another example Chan spoke of was Anthony DeSclafani, who had been reduced to a marginal role with the Reds in 2020 before being signed by the Giants for a one-year US$6 million deal in December 2020.
After an outstanding regular season with the Giants last year, in which he had a 13-7 record in 31 starts with two shutouts and a 3.17 earned run average, he signed a three-year, US$36 million deal with the club.
Their successes were important achievements for the Giants’ biomechanics staff, Chan said.
He offered some advice for young baseball players in Taiwan who might be dreaming of playing in the US, saying that a team’s development plan for a player is more important than the monetary value of a contract.
Teams such as the Giants, the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays all prioritize the development of their players and put in the resources to back that up, Chan said.
For Taiwanese professional baseball pitchers Huang Wei-chieh and Teng Kai-wei, who have signed minor-league contracts with the Giants, the club’s biomechanics team would develop their skills and correct their flaws, Chan said.
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