Using Data to Evaluate Softball Pitchers - Nate Walker
Nate Walker has worked in baseball operations for two Major League Baseball front offices. He acted as a contact person for the coaching staff of the Major Leagues and helped them with pregame planning, game strategy, and statistical analysis. Nate currently serves as the founder and president of Diamond Solutions, a business that provides analytics consulting to softball and baseball companies.
In todayā€™s episode, Nate talks about how he collects data and information in softball. He also mentions that high school pitchers should focus on creating movement north-south vs. east-west.
Nate also mentions that he goes out and scouts high school pitchers or the travel ball scene and his ways of scouting and recruiting pitchers.
Free Presentation on how to help Softball Hitters improve their timing
Tune in to this episode to find out more about Nate Walker.
SHOW NOTES
[2:37] How did you go from a scout and professional baseball to now working with different programs in the softball world on the pitching?
[5:40] How are you collecting data and information in softball? Is it through Rapsodo?
[7:17] When you said that, similar to when you were in the front office, are you speaking about just movement plots? Like the way track, man would have different scattered plots?
[9:12] What was something that did surprise you once you started collecting some of the data and information? Is there anything that stood out or surprised you?
[11:35] If they're focusing on their development, let's say they are high school pitchers, they should focus more on north-south and developing that repertoire than worrying about east going east-west.
[13:45] Have you ever experimented with players or had them experiment with different grips? And if so, have you seen any correlation between increased vertical brake with varying grips of pitch or finger pressure on the ball?
[15:06] What are some common flaws you see from a Biomechanical analysis?
[17:12] What velocity should high school players aim for if they want to play in college, based on the data you've seen?
[18:36] Do you scout high school pitchers or the travel ball scene?
[23:21] How do you, scout and recruit pitchers?
[27:00] What would you say about the percentage of progressive college softball coaches and maybe some of those early adopters you just mentioned?
[38:28] Do you do any work with travel softball organizations?
[37:37] How many years do you think it will take for softball to be as accepting and open from a technology analytics development standpoint right around where baseball is right now?
[40:41] What advice would you give to a high school pitcher?
FOLLOW NATE:
Twitter: DomiNate34
LinkedIn: Nathan Walker
Email: [email protected]
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