Eddy: MLB, teams view injury prevention as the next frontier
From SABR member Matt Eddy at Baseball America on March 14, 2014:
The third annual SABR Analytics Conference gathered many of the top minds in the analytic community to share insights and discuss research findings. Conference organizers loaded Day One with panel discussions, which lasted 45 minutes and were followed by a 15-minute question-and-answer session. Batting leadoff was “Medical Analysis and Injury Prevention,” the most interesting panel from a player-development perspective.
Sharing their thoughts on how baseball can curb its increasing injury rate while learning from its mistakes were Dodgers vice president of medical services Stan Conte, American Sports Medicine Institute research director Dr. Glenn Fleisig and Major League Baseball vice president for league economics and strategy Chris Marinak.
Teams view injury research—particularly pitcher injuries such as those requiring Tommy John surgery—as the next frontier in analytics, but Marinak admits the process is in the infant stages. He should know because MLB is writing the book on the topic, so to speak.
“We’re building a foundational database to determine re-injury rates and recovery times,” he said, “because the best way to treat an injury is to prevent it in the first place.”
Read the full article here: http://www.baseballamerica.com/majors/teams-view-injury-prevention-as-new-frontier-in-analytics/
Related link: For more coverage of the SABR Analytics Conference, visit SABR.org/analytics.
Originally published: March 14, 2014. Last Updated: March 14, 2014.