Numbers and technology-generated data. The sports world is obsessed with them, altering the athletic training landscape in a variety of ways—some useful, some not so much.
Appropriate use of analytics in sports training can be valuable. Inappropriate use, however, can contribute to both physical injuries and distracted, impaired performance.
No sport better demonstrates the damaging aspects of numbers obsession than baseball. Let’s explore.
Major League Baseball is plagued by an ongoing rash of pitcher arm injuries and surgeries, most recently to high-profile hurlers Gerrit Cole, Spencer Strider, and Shane Bieber.
The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA), as reported by the media, is pointing an accusatory finger at the 30-second pitching clock, instituted in 2022, as the main culprit for those injuries, claiming it doesn’t leave enough time between pitches for adequate arm recovery. The escalation of arm injuries, however, was occurring way before the pitch clock came into play.
Famed former MLB pitching coach Leo Mazzone, Hall-of-Fame pitchers John Smoltz and Greg Maddux, Houston Astros ace hurler Justin Verlander, and retired Major Leaguer Mo Vaughn have recently weighed in on the subject and strongly disagree with the MLBPA’s claim. All of those baseball luminaries blame analytics and over-emphasis on “velo” (velocity) and spin rate in youth, high school, and older levels of play for the rash of arm injuries.
“The radar gun should be banned all the way through high school,” wrote Mazzone in an article published in the Ultimate Baseball Guide. Mazzone is credited with developing John Smoltz, Greg Maddox, and Hall-of-Famer Tom Glavine during his tenure as Atlanta Braves pitching coach from 1990-2005.
“Pitchers are being told that if they don’t hit a certain number on the radar gun, they won’t make a team, they won’t get drafted, or get signed,” explained Mazzone. “So, what’s the first thing a youngster will do? They try to pitch up to the radar gun to raise their 'velo,' resorting to super effort which in turn raises the risk of blowing out their arm.”
Former Boston Red Sox star Vaughn agrees that analytics is the main culprit of pitching injuries as reported on the TMZ website. “He (Vaughn) thinks the obsession with velocity and spin rates has caused pitchers to stop pitching and focus solely on unloading the gas tank on every throw, instead.” Vaughn believes that analytics is useful, but cannot be "the end-all, be-all" for pitchers.
Dr. Keith Meister, the head team physician of the Texas Rangers, and one of baseball’s leading orthopedic surgeons, notes that he views “spin-rate” obsession as a bigger contributor to pitching injuries than the velocity thing.
I’m not an orthopedic surgeon, so I will not weigh in on the medical aspects of those injuries, but I do have specialized knowledge of the mental part of the game. I also have two eyes in my head and can plainly see what’s happening: Athletes have become obsessed with numerical outcomes, and computer-generated analytics aren’t helping.
“It’s obviously a pandemic, and it’s gonna take years to work itself out,” weighed in Verlander during an interview with Sportsnet. “I can’t look at my Instagram without seeing some kids trying to throw as hard as they can at 10 years old.”
Numbers are of obvious importance for competitive swimmers, runners, and golfers. Times determine the ultimate success of swimmers and runners. Scores are it for golfers. Those numbers are of obvious importance, but obsession with them will crank up tension and anxiety, resulting in disrupted rhythm, focus, and other critical elements of performance.
Athletes are not robots. Times and scores fluctuate. Getting caught up with those ups and downs can trap the athlete on an emotional roller coaster, creating frustration and diminished performance. Potential injury and emotional burnout are also at risk.
Baseball players are no different, and the normal fluctuation of “velo,” spin rate, hitting exit “velo,” WHIP, and other computer-generated numbers, not to mention traditional statistics such as batting average (BA) and Earned Run Average (ERA), can drive an athlete to distraction.
Another problem with a number obsession is that it’s never enough. Golfers seek lower and lower scores, swimmers and runners seek faster and faster times, and baseball pitchers can never achieve enough “velo” or spins on the ball. Improvement is critical for success, but when numbers become a perfectionistic obsession, it can lead to more pressure-induced stress, poor performance, overtraining, injury, and burnout.
The “never enough” problem is also evident in the weight room where athletes can be obsessed with trying to lift more weight and increasing the number of reps. This has led to innumerable injuries and emotional stress. Two young athletes I know of cracked vertebrae doing dangerously heavy back squats; one is permanently disabled, and the other's sports future is imperiled.
Just look around and you’ll likely notice what I’m seeing: Young athletes rushing the execution of skills required of their sport and disrupting proper focus, body mechanics, and in-competition decisions, resulting in compromised performance. Swimmers not taking full arm strokes, golfers over swinging and hitting the ball 300 yards to the side of the green.
Successful execution of athletic skills requires a certain rhythm which differs across sports. Rushing movements or pressure-induced slowness kills ideal rhythm and compromises performance.
The problem is highly visible in amateur baseball. Young hitters are squeezing their bats so tightly that you can almost see juice dripping from the handle. They're swinging so hard, they’re falling over. Pitchers are rushing their windup, whipping their arms, totally out of sync with their lower body where the main source of power is generated. They’re seeking max “velo,” doing so in a manner that messes up their accuracy and stresses their arm anatomy.
Where does this obsession with achieving numbers come from? I believe it's coaches using analytics technology inappropriately with athletes too young and inexperienced to know what to do with the information they’re being fed. Those coaches are improperly using technology, and inadvertently cranking up number-obsessed, pressured, and rushed performance, not to mention physical injury,
Weighted balls, smashing heavy medicine balls into the ground, pitching “pulldowns” (running and throwing a pitch with a radar gun pointed at you to measure “velo"). According to the baseball luminaries previously mentioned and Dr. Meister, such baseball training drills are completely inappropriate and dangerous for high school-aged kids and younger.
The Cleveland Guardians' young pitching phenom Gavin Williams has missed the first part of the 2024 MLB season with an elbow injury sustained doing weighted-ball throwing drills designed to increase "velo." If harmful for an adult, the danger for a child or teenager should be obvious.
Serious injuries and surgeries are occurring at an alarming rate for youth athletes, some occurring from weight room activity where trainers and athletes have become obsessed with increased weight loads on young bodies not physically prepared for such heavy lifting. Are trainers preparing kids for sports, or teaching an obsession with heavier and heavier lifts and more and more repetitions?
Young athletes and involved adults need to be aware of the dangers of numbers obsession in practices, games, and the weight room. Optimal performance, physical health, and emotional stability hang in the balance.
Buyer beware of coaches, trainers, and other sports “experts” preaching data-driven training approaches and methods. Avoid programs promoting such things as “velo” and other poorly informed analytics-based programs. Technology and analytics can be useful, but not if improperly executed.
Kids are already hooked on phones, computers, and social media. We don’t need to throw sports-based analytics and numbers into the mix.
login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Toi Staff
Gideon Levy
Belen Fernandez
Andrew Mitrovica
Mort Laitner
Ali Fathollah-Nejad
Rami G Khouri
Nikkei Editorial
visit website
