Two Miami University RedHawks pitchers, junior right-handers Peyton Olejnik and Ahmad Harajli, sit in the office of pitching coach Larry Scully before the beginning of an important three-game weekend set.
On Scully’s computer lies a myriad of data points and colorful visuals of the strike zone and the field, which he will use along with video to fine-tune the pitchers’ craft.
The numbers on Scully’s computer are collected via different pieces of technology around the ballpark that have flooded the sport of baseball from college to the major leagues.
From the simple radar gun to high-speed cameras and even an in-stadium TrackMan unit (a ball-tracking technology that uses 3D radar to follow the location and movement of pitches and batted balls), the Miami pitching staff has access to all sorts of technology to help them develop.
However, having the numbers and using them correctly to develop your players are two different entities.
Under Scully and graduate assistant Riley Feltner, Miami’s pitcher development has put its staff atop the Mid-American Conference (MAC) in numerous result-based categories because of the work it puts into understanding and applying the data with each pitcher.
Feltner has been involved in baseball all his life. The former pitcher at Kent State and pitching coach at his alma mater, Walsh Jesuit High School in Cuyahoga Falls, taught himself how to code. As a result, he first broke into the Miami baseball program as an assistant to the former coaching staff.
After he graduates, Feltner has a job waiting with Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Guardians in an analyst and pitching development role. But while still in Oxford, he and Scully work in tandem to help the men on the mound find more efficient ways to get batters out.
“I’ve been super fortunate because Coach Scully has allowed me to play a role in the development of the pitchers,” Feltner said. “I have a decent on-field role here, especially in the fall. If I see something a guy could improve, whether it be from ball flight characteristics or movement patterns, we’ll discuss that briefly. And if we’re on the same page, which we usually are, he has given me the ok to implement things that I see fit.”
Feltner and Scully examine a wide array of numbers that decipher what a pitcher needs to improve or can keep doing well. Information that is measured includes spin rate, average pitch velocity, horizontal and vertical break, extension, vertical release point and other metrics.
Their job is to break down the player’s approach, body rotation, arm movement, ball release and pitch action as it approaches the zone.
The goal is for pitchers to have weapons in their arsenal that are considered potentially effective at the next level.
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“For me as a pitching coach, I’m just looking at [the pitcher’s] stuff and how it grades out in terms of winning at this level and then preparing for the next level,” Scully said. “It’s not necessarily what works [at Miami], but what can you grade out as a pro pitch?”
The most crucial time for the pitching staff and coaches is the fall. Making adjustments and being versatile throughout the season is essential, but preseason bullpen sessions and scrimmages give pitchers the chance to see their strengths and weaknesses on the TrackMan and on film.
For some, it gives them the chance to toy around with new weapons they can add to their arsenal.
“I came [to Miami] not really having a changeup,” Olejnik said. “So during the fall, I made it my goal to gain that third pitch to help be the guy out of the bullpen or the guy that starts. Having the technology really helped me see what I was doing wrong. I still take my lumps on the road, and that’s all within the learning process. But I’ve seen strides.”
Olejnik’s 60 strikeouts in 46.1 innings pitched are tied for the highest on the team, and he has learned to trust his new pitch, using it in high-leverage spots to get the job done.
For Harajli, the focus was not on adding a new pitch. Instead, it was about adjusting one he used often but couldn’t locate after transferring from the University of Michigan.
“For me, it’s been my slider,” Harajli said. “When you talk about landing a slider more for strikes, it’s really hard to tell a kid what to do without him seeing past examples. [Feltner] would show me a lot of big leaguer high-speed video as well as their numbers, and I would try to mimic that in my bullpens and my scrimmages in the fall. Then, I would compare how I threw with the video and the numbers in order to expedite my development.”
Other pitchers on the Miami staff have found success after using the available technology. Right-handed redshirt junior Patrick Mastrian IV and left-handed sophomore Carson Byers both worked with Feltner to adjust pitches in their arsenals.
For Mastrian, the adjustment was made to his slider by transitioning it from a “gyro-slider” averaging 77 mph, as Feltner described it, to a sweeping slider. Over the fall, they decided to keep the velocity the same and instead add 12 inches of sweep, giving Mastrian a true putaway pitch.
Byers worked on the break and location of his curveball, turning it into one of the most lethal pitches on the Miami staff.
“His breaking ball, we thought, was a little bit big,” Feltner said. “The pitch shape was great, and it graded out as a good pitch, but it just wasn’t in the zone enough, so he kind of shortened up the profile a little bit and made it a little bit firmer. You can look at his base numbers this year compared to last year, and he’s dominating.”
The balance between using analytics and the naked eye to judge player performance remains a debate rampant in baseball and sports in general. But the RedHawks staff applies both to those with boots on the ground.
“It’s really hard to discredit 20 years of work from our pitching coach even before he had TrackMan,” Harajli said. “I think we all look to Coach Scully first. Once we have that, we will look toward the TrackMan, and 99 times out of 100, his statements will be solidified by the numbers. ”
Technology and analytics in baseball are not going away any time soon. With their acceptance and application, Miami baseball has put itself in a good position to not only help the team win games on the field but also prepare players for the next level and meet their potential.
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