driveline baseball

our best beloved hackimer was there last month

Please disregard the first pitch, I slipped. Otherwise, have arm, will pitch (or something like that), please tell your friends, tell your enemies, I’ll pitch anywhere any time https://t.co/ROkWnhx34A

— Tom Hackimer (@HackAttackimer) January 29, 2024

Driveline is mainly associated with pitchers because the founder, Kyle Boddy, used to scout them. (He was recently hired as an advisor for the Red Sox as part of the pitching pipeline overhaul, and previously at Cleveland).

JP Crawford had his best ever offensive season in 2023 & credited it to going to Driveline in the offseason. Driveline is located near Seattle so a lot of Mariners go there or have gone there but they also have other locations iirc.

https://www.mlb.com/mariners/news/jp-crawford-changes-offseason-workouts

He hit .266 last year, which may not seem special, and was T-51st for all qualified hitters. However, he led the American League in walks, resulting in a .380 OBP which was 11th in baseball. Those 10 guys ahead of him are all incredible baseball players. It wasn't just the walks though, as JP Crawford had found power. In 1686 AB through his first four seasons with the Mariners, he had hit 24 homers, at a rate of one homer every 70.25 AB.

In 2023, he would destroy his previous career high and end up with 19 homers, hitting them at a rate of one every 28.1 AB. 2.5 times as often as in the past, JP was going yard. All of a sudden, the Mariners leadoff hitter was a legit threat to get on base, and at the same time, a legit threat to put the ball over the fence.

That combination of his stats gave Crawford the 13th-highest OFF rating on fangraphs, and T-2nd for any shortstop in baseball. Think about that for a minute. Not only was JP a great hitter at SS, he was one of the best in all of baseball.

Wow - didn’t even realize how great a season he had

Driveline has now worked with thousands of pros and more than 40 all-stars. Regardless of their backgrounds or countries of origin, Boddy has noticed that the new arrivals are way more savvy than the players Lewis profiled in “Moneyball.” Because they’ve all read “Moneyball.” Or at least seen the movie. They grew up fluent in analytics and Edgertronics, and they understand that baseball is both a game and a market in which they are counterparties. The projection algorithms used by teams on the demand side value velocity and power, so the guys on the supply side go to Driveline to help them throw faster and hit harder. Which then gets them paid more. The market is aligned.

If this compromises the romance of the game for you, now would be a good time to stop reading and cue up the James Earl Jones speech from “Field of Dreams.” Because where things get really calculating — and relevant to any person who works for a living in the age of AI — is where labor and management diverge.

Most teams now have the same tech as Driveline. The big leagues have poached more than 40 Driveline alums to work in-house, and Boddy is a special adviser to the Red Sox. So why would a player spend their own money and travel to an inconvenient location to work on their game? Privacy. If your employer has kinesiologic data revealing how you suddenly got better at your job, they also know the circumstances in which you could suddenly get worse. Or how to optimally train your replacement. Last year’s average MLB player salary was $4.5 million; it makes a lot of sense to pay Driveline $20,000 in training fees and keep your data to yourself. The math probably isn’t as compelling in your job. But if you think a version of this tango isn’t headed for your profession, I’ve got some thymus oil to sell you.

not sure what to think of this op-ed thing but figured it fits in the thread

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/04/10/op-moneyballai/
free/gift link: https://wapo.st/3UdAQQL

btw the "$20,000 in training fees" is the first time i've heard an estimate of what it costs to work with driveline