Jet lag impairs performance of major league baseball players - Northwestern Now

The Giants trainers and staff are pretty big into this type of research. The announcers have harped for years on the steps they take to make sure the teams is adequately rested for the rigors of travel ad scheduling in the current environment. They may get some help if the expansion to 32 teams results in a breakdown from the current AL/NL schema into more of a regional mix of divisions and teams based on geographical proximity. The players should welcome that. 

Jet lag impairs performance of major league baseball players - Northwestern Now:

EVANSTON - Major League Baseball (MLB) managers trying to find an edge should pay close attention to their players’ body clocks, according to a new Northwestern University study of how jet lag affects MLB players traveling across just a few time zones.

The researchers found that when people, in this case Major League Baseball players, travel in a way that misaligns their internal 24-hour clock with the natural environment and its cycle of sunlight, they suffer negative consequences.

“Jet lag does impair the performance of Major League Baseball players,” said Dr. Ravi Allada, a circadian rhythms expert who led the study. “The negative effects of jet lag we found are subtle, but they are detectable and significant. And they happen on both offense and defense and for both home and away teams, often in surprising ways.”

In a study of data spanning 20 years and including more than 40,000 games, the researchers identified these effects of jet lag on player and team performance:

• The offense of jet-lagged home teams is much more affected than that of jet-lagged away teams. Surprisingly, in terms of offensive performance, jet lag from eastward travel had significant negative effects on home teams (after returning from a road trip) and much less of an effect on away teams.
• Negative effects on offense are related to base running. The negative effects on the home team’s offense were related to base running, such as stolen bases, number of doubles and triples, and hitting into more double plays.
• Both home and away teams suffer on defense, specifically by giving up more home runs. With defensive performance, strong effects of eastward jet lag were found for both home and away teams, primarily with jet-lagged pitchers allowing more home runs. “The effects are sufficiently large to erase the home field advantage,” Allada said. Besides home runs allowed, few other effects were seen on pitching or defense.
• There is a difference between traveling east and traveling west. Most significant jet-lag effects were generally stronger for eastward than westward travel. “This is a strong argument that the effect is due to the circadian clock, not the travel itself,” Allada said.

The study, “How Jet Lag Impairs Major League Baseball Performance,” will be published the week of Jan. 23 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

Allada and his team, Alex Song (first author) and Thomas Severini, used an unprecedented amount of MLB data (from 1992 to 2011), which gave the researchers the statistical power to identify the effects of jet lag on offensive and defensive performance metrics. The researchers considered if teams were traveling east or west; if the team was home or away; and the team itself.

They also looked at the number of hours players would be jet-lagged, based on the number of time zones traveled across, to determine which games were “jet-lag games” and which were not. (The human body clock can roughly shift about an hour each day as it synchronizes to the new environment.) If players were shifted two or three hours from their internal clocks, the researchers defined them as jet-lagged.

What does all this data analysis mean going forward? With MLB spring training less than a month away, Allada has some advice based on his research.

“If I were a baseball manager and my team was traveling across time zones — either to home or away — I would send my first starting pitcher a day or two ahead, so he could adjust his clock to the local environment,” Allada said.

Allada provides an example from the 2016 National League Championship Series illustrating the potential impact of jet lag on player performance. In game 2, Los Angeles Dodgers’ ace Clayton Kershaw shut out the Chicago Cubs, giving up only two hits, but game 6 was a different story.

“For game 6, the teams had returned to Chicago from LA, and this time the Cubs scored five runs off of Kershaw, including two home runs,” Allada said. “While it’s speculation, our research would suggest that jet lag was a contributing factor in Kershaw’s performance.”

Allada is the Edgar C. Stuntz Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience and chair of the neurobiology department in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He also is associate director of Northwestern’s Center for Sleep and Circadian Biology.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (grant D12AP00023) supported the research.

Topics: Athletics, Data Science, Life Sciences, Research, Video, Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences

http://www.pnas.org/content/114/6/1407.full.pdf



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The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition - MIT Sloan Analytics Conference

 

An objective tool to measure pitch recognition skill before the fact is HUGE in terms of both scouting and developing players. When the intangible becomes tangible, that's a huge leap, IMO. 

Subject: The Sixth Tool: Training Baseball Pitch Recognition - MIT Sloan Analytics Conference

http://www.sloansportsconference.com/content/the-sixth-tool-training-baseball-pitch-recognition/

The skill of pitch recognition, measured with metrics such as 0-Swing%, Line Drive %, and BB/K ratio, is so important that it's become a virtual sixth tool in baseball. But it's generally considered to be more a talent than a learned skill … and therefore not trainable. This talk describes and demonstrates a new approach that adapts the video-occlusion method developed in sport science research laboratories in order to both test and train this elusive perceptual-cognitive skill. Running on a laptop computer, video-occlusion can be used to measure the pitch recognition ability of prospects, diagnose pitch recognition problems, and systematically develop pitch recognition skill in high-performance baseball batters.

To see presentation slides click here

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Pirates trade McCutchen to Giants | theScore.com

As called....
https://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2018/01/giants-seek-andrew-mccutchen-outfield.html

from thescore.com
Pirates trade McCutchen to Giants | theScore.com:

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I know that many will say the 'Cutch to move to a corner OF spot, but he deserves the right to remind SF of the GOAT, Willie Mays in CF.

Crick is a great turnaround project for Ray Searage. Reynolds is a couple of years away and behind Duggar for future CF. I cannot believe that they could have also had Jay Bruce for 3 yrs. / $39M and low-balled him at a reported $29M for same three years. If they feel they have enough bats now, they go for a low-priced CF like Dyson, or Billy Hamilton, whose price just went down. Carlos Gonzalez could still be in the picture if you're sure about 'Cutch in CF for a full season.

I like  the lineup as is and I think Shaw could be the OF bat as soon as 2018.

So far, Arroyo, Reynolds and Crick leveraged into Longoria and McCutchen. Two faces of the franchise, great leadership kind of guys. I like the composition of the team now and for the immediate future. The lineup tilts a bit heavy to the 30+ crowd, but for now, I'm OK with it.

Tony Boselli puts Chris Simms on blast for being awful at football

The Jaguars are going to the Championship game with the #70 ranked QB, according to both Chris Simms, who should be ashamed of himself, and that chortling, ESPN-moron, Dan LeBeRetard, who is a perma-fool. 

Simms is worse than an idiot. I still hope Boselli punches him in the face, it might raise his IQ.

After what his Dad went through in NY with ignorant fans and media, Chris Simms should know better. Phil Simms was known as Simms Sucks right up until the first Super Bowl, from which he emerged as the MVP. 

The New York Post had letters from fans in the week leading up to that first Super Bowl saying "It's nice that the Giants got this far, but Simms will blow it." The Broncos logo, John Elway was destined to roll over the vaunted Giants D and win easily. Didn't happen. The quotes below, attributed to the junior Simms, are of the same tone and tenor as those leveled at the senior Simms back in the day. 

For that, I would excuse Phil Simms from the charge of child abuse if he beat Boselli to the punch, both literally and figuratively. 

Fan-boys, media pseudo-experts and amateur pseudo-analysts were stupid back then and they remain stupid today. 

Chris Simms is a horses ass. He's still the same guy that rode up to the University of Texas in a limo and lost the team to the unheralded Major Applewhite. Stupid then, stupid now.

from blackandteal.com
https://blackandteal.com/2018/01/10/tony-boselli-puts-chris-simms-blast-awful-elevator-quarterbacks/

Tony Boselli puts Chris Simms on blast for being awful at evaluating quarterbacks

by Daniel Lago8 hours agoFollow @dlago89Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles has taken plenty of undue flack and Tony Boselli had enough when he heard Chris Simms trashing him.

 "Because, you know, that was a subpar quarterback.""He trash." "As long as Bortles is back there, if the ball game is in his hands, he's going to choke.""I'm trying to go out there and win the game. I want to make him look like Blake Bortles"

Blake Bortles has been a national whipping boy since his disappointing 2016 campaign, but it's been taken to another level in 2017.

Bortles has improved significantly this year, but instead of gaining the respect of his peers he's been the subject of undeserved insults.

The latest came at the hands of the completely unremarkable former quarterback Chris Simms, who said Bortles was the 70th best quarterback in the NFL.

Simms was on the Dan Le Batard show, discussing the quarterbacks left in the playoffs, and openly discussed guys like Mark Sanchez, Chad Henne, T.J. Yates, Cardale Jones, and Nathan Peterman being better than quarterbacks than Blake Bortles.

Obviously blinded by confirmation bias and presumably some level of jealously since he flamed out of the NFL spectacularly while Bortles just won a playoff game, Simms stayed on the show long enough for Tony Boselli to call in and rip him a new one.

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2018 CBD Season Preview and Predictions: Atlantic Sun – College Baseball Daily

Since I am now attending the University of North Florida, let's do some analysis on the 2018 baseball squad. I agree with the analysis here that pitching needs to be, and should be better than last year.

from College Baseball Daily:
2018 CBD Season Preview and Predictions: Atlantic Sun – College Baseball Daily:

North Florida (2017 Record: 33-24, 12-9)

North Florida had a very solid 2017 season finishing with the fourth best record in the conference. But they went two-and-out in the Atlantic Sun Tournament and saw their season cut short.

Lineup:

They lose five of their top six hitters from 2017. Chris Berry is the lone person among those six to return. The second baseman hit .310 with 21 runs scored, 6 doubles, 3 home runs and 32 RBI. Outfielder Wesley Weeks hit .267 last year with 28 runs scored, 10 doubles, 2 home runs, 21 RBI and 11 stolen bases. Catcher Blake Voyles and infielder Mac Wilson are expected to take on bigger roles in 2018.

Pitching:

This team does return its best starting pitcher from last year in Frank German. He posted a 2.43 ERA in 81.1 innings pitched last year with 76 strikeouts. Austin Drury also comes back after posting a 3.03 ERA in 74.1 innings pitched with 61 strikeouts. Cooper Bradford could join the weekend rotation as well after having a 2.79 ERA in 51.2 innings pitched (9 starts) last year with 53 strikeouts. Brad Depperman could get another shot in the rotation after starting eight games last year with a 5.57 ERA in 53.1 innings pitched with 42 strikeouts.

2018 Outlook:

Even though this team loses a lot of production from the lineup, they could have one of the best starting pitching rotations in the conference. They’ll need to add some depth in the bullpen to fill out the pitching staff, but if they find some offense this team could be good again in 2018.

--

The key is how well Depperman adapts to starting. His stats indicate he knows his way around the strike zone, with a K/BB of 5.25. However, he also leads in H/9 among the potential starters at 12.20. If he misses more bats or pitches to weaker contact, he could elevate quickly.

The offense really has to clip coupons to score runs, however they did outscore their opponents 341-245 last year. Their winning percentage last year (.579) outperformed their expected winning percentage per Pythagoreum formula (.516) which indicates that last years squad was a team that was pretty good fundamentally, a "King of Little Things" type of squad that I like to watch.

You can go a long way playing that type of baseball.

There are some pretty good prospects coming through on the opposition side of the schedule, so I hope to be able to see quite a few games this year.

I wonder which is greater, my 55+ plus or my student discount.

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Giants 2018 Prospects: Hitters Edition

to 

Last week I posted my analysis of the Giants pitching prospects as I view them today.   https://slavieboy.blogspot.com/2017/12/giants-2018-prospects-pitchers-edition.html

Today, we'll look at the hitting prospects.

Currently, LF looks like SOSDD. If it's not Jarrett Parker v. Mac Williamson 2.0 (Yuck), the best hitting prospect I see is Heath Quinn and I'm not sure he would rise to perhaps the Andrew Susac level as a hitter. Not bad, but not enough. The light should have gone on for Parker and Williamson for that matter. It hasn't.

Of the two CF prospects, I like Duggar's approach over Brian Reynolds. The power potential for Reynolds, is not quite like Parker/Williamson, etc. but one of them has to take command of the position soon.

Aramis Garcia looks the part of a solid backup catcher, but I thought he would hit better than he has to date. He is 25+, so you have to see what you have there, or he moves from prospect to suspect.

On the infield, I like C.J. Hinojosa's hitting approach better than his overall results, which means utility IF at best. The same for Kelvin Beltre at 3B, and it's even harder to be a utility IF at 3B. Jacob Gonzalez flashes the same signals as Beltre, with a smaller sample size. It is good to see a young HS hitter display an advanced, patient approach.

I saved the best for last.

Chris Shaw has a chance to be an elite power hitter. Not quite an advanced hitting approach like Brandon Belt and not quite the same production as Adam Duvall, but maybe a crazy, lower case cross between Belt and Duvall, if that makes any sense. He's a keeper. DO NOT TRADE!!

Heliot Ramos has as good a chance of being the 5-tool type super-star player the Giants have been looking for out of their farm system for many, many years. Also a keeper. DO NOT TRADE!!

It seems as if either Duggar or Reynolds could be included as filler in a trade with Beede / Stratton for either McCutchen or Billy Hamilton. If that's the case, I'd prefer they kept Duggar, but not so much that I would walk away from McCutchen.

It seems like the Giants are leaning towards adding a FA and trading for a piece. DON'T lose the 2nd round pick in this years draft, it appears to be loaded with pitching. Plan A is trade for McCutchen and sign Jay Bruce. Plan B is sign CarGo and trade for Billy Hamilton. See the drop-off? One is a Plan to Contend, the other is a Roadmap to Oblivion.

Anyway, to review the hitter:

+ Propsects:  Chris Shaw, Steven Duggar, Heath Quinn and Heliot Ramos 

                      

?? Prospects:  Aramis Garcia, C.J. Hinojosa , Brian Reynolds, Kelvin Beltre and Jacob                                         Gonzalez 

I don't have any negative prospects here since none of these guys really came with great expectations. WYSIWYG's

Giants seek Andrew McCutchen, outfield help | San Francisco Giants

This is the best fit for the Giants, short and long term, IMO. I liked him over Giancarlo.



Now, as far as the price goes: Shaw = NO, Ramos = HELL NO!! and Beede is what he is, which is Stratton. We already have Stratton, so Beede is a YES!! 


The Giants would regret trading Ramos or Shaw for a long time.  


You only get one of the top three, that "at least" garbage can walk out the door. Move on to Bruce.  


One from column A and one from column B for 'Cutch.



Giants seek Andrew McCutchen, outfield help | San Francisco Giants:

Meanwhile, the Giants are reluctant to part with top prospects for McCutchen, after giving up highly regarded infielder Christian Arroyo in last month's trade with the Rays for Evan Longoria.

Outfielder/first baseman Chris Shaw, right-hander Tyler Beede and outfielder Heliot Ramos are the Giants' top three prospects, per MLB Pipeline. One source said the Pirates are asking for at least one of those three in any McCutchen trade with San Francisco.

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Is The ‘Old School’ Method of Teaching Hitting Outdated?

Hi Charles Rachel Garcia Swing Test Experiment Recently, Rachel Garcia, an elite collegiate softball player (National Freshman of the year at UCLA) went through a simple before and after hitting analysis that I took a small part of and thought it might help to answer our question about 'Old School' teaching methods.  Rachel added 11 MPH in Tee Exit Velocity (Tee measures 'Raw' Power - no pitch influences), from 68 MPH to 79 MPH and increased her average Launch Angle from 5.4 degrees to 9.8 degrees in one 30 minute session.  In fact, her average Exit Velocity in her 'after' round was 5 MPH higher than her top speed in the first round.  The two most important metrics in hitting, Exit Velocity and Launch Angle, both increased significantly and immediately.  An elite athlete, seemingly already firing on all cylinders, adding 14% to her Exit Velocity.  How is this possible?   Elite performance and 'swing efficiency' are not the same things and it is possible to hit very well with slight swing inefficiencies.  We tend to look at elite players and just assume the reason they are elite is that their swing movements are perfect.  While she already had a good swing, there were some key mechanical movements that could become more efficient and thus the immediate increase.  ​​​​​​​ Read More Tomorrow look for a year end special on the Hitting Is A Guess - Time Training and all hitting  programs combined.............

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Listen to Angela Duckworth on Grit in Podcasts

Listen to Angela Duckworth on Grit from EconTalk in Podcasts. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/econtalk/id135066958?mt=2&i=1000373059701

How important is grit relative to talent? Can grit be taught? Angela Duckworth of the University of Pennsylvania and author of Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance talks with with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the nature of success in work, play and life. How much does grit matter? Is grit malleable or something we're born with? Duckworth discusses her research on these questions and how to think about what it means for a child and an adult to thrive.

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WHY we coach | Coach Cano, ONEighty Athletics

Coach Slavik I just read this article from Jeff Janssen Sports Leadership Center on WHY we coach and had to share it with my fellow coaches. why we coach: I COACH YOU because I care about you. I CHALLENGE YOU because I believe in you. I EXPECT YOUR COMMITMENT because I know your family and job will. I HOLD YOU ACCOUNTABLE because life will hold you accountable. I PUSH YOU OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE because it's the only place where real growth occurs. I WANT YOU TO DO IT RIGHT THE FIRST TIME because life doesn't always give second chances. I ASK YOU TO SACRIFICE FOR THE TEAM because true success means being a part of something far greater than yourself. I IMPLORE YOU TO GIVE YOUR BEST because I don't want you to look back on this season, your career, or life with regrets. I DEVELOP YOU TO LEAD because your company, community, and country will eventually need you to. I DISCIPLINE YOU because I want you to learn there's a right way and wrong way to do things and treat people. I CHALLENGE YOU TO COMPETE because you'll fight some battles in your life where losing is just not an option. I INSIST YOU PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL because you'll soon realize that the little things are the BIG things. I PUT YOU THROUGH ADVERSITY because you'll need the persistence to overcome far greater adversities in your life. I MAKE YOU EARN A SPOT because you'll take more pride in and ownership of the things you work hard for and earn. I INSIST YOU DO THE RIGHT THING because I want you to look in the mirror and be proud of who you are and what you stand for. I REQUIRE YOU TO REPRESENT YOURSELF WITH CLASS because you'll carry your reputation with you for the rest of your life. I FORCE YOU TO FACE YOUR FEARS because breaking through your fears gives you the confidence to take on any challenge life throws at you. I DO EVERYTHING I DO because I want you to become the absolute best version of yourself and develop into the responsible and respected adult your family, friends, coworkers, community, and the world all need you to be. THIS IS WHY I thought this was a perfect message to start off a great week! Coach Cano Win The Kids! The offseason is here! If you haven't joined the other 1000's of coaches in our Elite Sports Performance Program click the link below and check it out. https://oneightyathletics.com/elite1

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