The San Diego Padres, partnered with local Point Loma Nazarene University, hosted the grand opening of their state-of-the-art Biomechanics Lab at Point Loma’s Balboa campus with a ribbon cutting ceremony on Monday, Feb. 9.
In attendance was five time all star pitcher Yu Darvish, newly signed reliever out of Japan Yuki Matsui, Padres minor league pitcher Daniel Camarena, Padres pitching coach Ruben Niebla, and a host of front office personnel from the team.
“The level of excitement is high, because we’re able to finally say this is our facility.”
-Padres Pitching Coach Ruben Niebla.
“The level of excitement is high, because we’re able to finally say this is our facility. So being able to be here and showcase what we’ve been doing is pretty cool,” said Niebla.
Years of collaboration
This lab marks the culmination of years of collaboration, brainstorming and partnership between the Padres and PLNU, Arnel Aguinaldo, the associate professor of kinesiology at PLNU, said.
Aguinaldo first had the idea of opening a state of the art biomechanics lab years ago. He then brainstormed this vision with Josh Stein, the assistant general manager of the Padres, over a cup of coffee.
“Fast forward to a year ago, Josh invited Erik Greupner, A.J. Preller, and some of the other front office people, and we just had conversations about the lab and how it can be beneficial for Padres players and coaches but also for us here at Loma,” Aguinaldo said.
Despite the partnership’s utility for the San Diego Padres and their players, Aguinaldo said the focal point of his work on the lab is to benefit his graduate students.
“My main focus is fostering grad students and their research and their learning experience in the science of biomechanics,” Aguinaldo said. “Right now we have six employed with the Padres. They just hired two of our grad students who are graduating this year.”
The PLNU baseball team also uses the lab weekly, according to Aguinaldo, and the Padres have already sent players such as Yuki Matsui, Drew Thorpe, Michael King, Jeremiah Estrada and Yu Darvish through the lab recently.
‘Labs like this are not commonplace’
Niebla explained at the grand opening that having access to a lab such as this one allows the team and coaching staff to be more cognizant of the kinetic chain and player capabilities as a whole.
“Performance is directly impacted by health, so being able to see how they’re moving, the kinetic chain and how they’re actually getting to the tip of the ball is very important,” Niebla said after an in-lab pitching demonstration by PLNU reliever Austyn Coleman and Padres Minor Leaguer Daniel Camarena. “I think organizationally where it’s helping us is having a better understanding of [how] at times, you try to get guys to do certain things that they might not be capable of.”
Labs like this are not commonplace across the Majors, according to Niebla and Stein. Although some teams (such as the Baltimore Orioles) have their own lab in their ‘backyard,’ many organizations either do not have access to such equipment or attempt to build a lab at their spring training facilities, meaning they are not readily available throughout the year.
Niebla said that during his time working with the Cleveland Indians they did not have a pitching lab or equipment comparable to the technology the Padres possess now.
“No. We didn’t [have a lab]. And there’s not too many teams that are doing it. It’s a complicated operation,” he said.
The data collected in this lab provides a comprehensive look at the biomechanics of a pitcher, the ball flight, its spin rate, vertical and horizontal break and velocity— all analyzed at the back of the lab, where there are a plethora of computer screens and sensors.
There are also force plates in the pitching mound, which provide a detailed look into how the forces are moving through the body and into the ball through a map called the kinetic chain.
Niebla described the kinetic chain as ground forces created through the body through a release point. Eventually, a player looks to make sure that their hips, torso, shoulders, arms and hands are all segmented to create the maximum force of the body through the ball.
Niebla also outlined the trackman unit, which helps them understand ball flight.
“The way you look at pitching is the body moves the ball and the ball flight creates performance,” Niebla explained. “Once you start tying these three sections together you’re able to have a little bit of a better understanding of pitchers’ performance and how we can get them there.”
A selling point for the Padres
For the Padres, the benefits of this lab can easily be flipped into a recruiting pitch for prospective free agents. Stein stressed the draw a facility like this has on free agent ball players weighing their options, highlighting the potential for use in monitoring players rehabbing from injuries, or simply those looking to avoid such a grievance.
“Sometimes you do have players rehabbing from injuries that, I think this can again be a selling point for the organization…”
-Josh Stein, the assistant general manager of the Padres.
“Sometimes you do have players rehabbing from injuries that, I think this can again be a selling point for the organization to be able to say, ‘Listen, if you want to check your movement, check your delivery throughout the course of the year, you’re going to have the opportunity to do that right here in San Diego,’” Stein said.
On top of measuring pitching variables and the kinetic chain, the biomechanics lab also has the capacity to measure what Aguinaldo called ‘kinetic metrics.’ These metrics are able to quantify the amount of force and/or torque that a pitcher’s shoulder or elbow is being subjected to.
“We have some metrics which quantify the amount of force or torque at the shoulder and elbow. We can actually see that, [and] we monitor them,” Aguinaldo explained behind the countless computer screens and sensory units at the back of the lab. “Just because we see a high load doesn’t necessarily mean they are gonna be at a higher risk because some players are used to that — their bodies adjust or adapt to the stresses imposed upon them. We mention that, we put that as a bullet point for the pitching coaches ‘keep an eye on it.’”
This new state-of-the-art Biomechanics Lab is mutually beneficial for both the San Diego Padres and PLNU, whether that be through fostering a hands-on opportunity for graduate students or providing the Padres with the insight they need to get a leg up on the competition.
“In terms of larger baseball in San Diego, I think it’s going to be a jewel and an opportunity for growth,” Josh Stein said.
