Backman, Haan win 2025 SABR Analytics Conference student presentation awards
Nathan Backman and Dimitri Haan were recognized as the winners of the inaugural SABR Analytics Conference student presentation awards, presented by Cleat Street Capital, on Saturday, March 15, 2025, in Phoenix, Arizona.
Backman was selected as the top student oral presenter for his talk on “Baseball Cinematography: Using Open Source CV Algorithms to Track and Quantify Pitcher Mechanics.”
Backman is a senior majoring in Sport Analytics at Syracuse University with a minor in writing. He serves as the Head Data Specialist for the men’s basketball team and is the former president of the on-campus SU Baseball Statistics and Sabermetrics Club.
Haan was selected as the top student poster presenter for “Understanding the Correlation Between Static Range of Motion and Joint Torque Power Capabilities.”
Haan is a master’s student in the Sports Biomechanics program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. He earned his undergraduate degree in biomechanics from UNO in 2023 and plans to continue to pursue his doctorate at UNO following graduation in 2025. He has worked in the UNO Sports Medicine and Biomechanics Lab and the UNO Pitching Lab for three years and leads biomechanics evaluations of baseball pitchers, as well as assisting with softball, golf and other athlete evaluations.
The winners were selected based on the quality and originality of their work, the contribution of their work to future research, and the students’ ability to simplify complex subject matter.
For more coverage of the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.
Originally published: March 15, 2025. Last Updated: March 15, 2025.