Would you like to know which Arizona Wildcats throw the fastest? Which ones hit the hardest?
You no longer have to guess.
Under first-year coach Chip Hale, the UA program isn’t just using analytics — it’s publicizing some of its players’ most eye-popping advanced stats.
In the fall, the program launched the “Arizona Baseball Analytics” Twitter feed, which revealed the Wildcats’ exit velocities, line-drive percentages, whiff rates and other notable numbers from intrasquad scrimmages. The plan is to continue to pump out those types of statistics during the season, which begins Friday.
The Twitter feed is mainly the handiwork of Jackson Del Rosario, a 19-year-old UA sophomore majoring in statistics and data science. Del Rosario is in his second year as a student manager for the baseball team, and he now has a unique title: head student manager for data and analytics.
A recent example of the nuggets the account produces: top exit velocities from intrasquad scrimmages held over the weekend. Mac Bingham led the way at 112.0 miles per hour, followed by Tanner O’Tremba at 111.4 and Chase Davis at 109.5. The account also detailed the particulars — exit velo, launch angle and distance — of Davis’ three home runs during Saturday’s “Meet the Team” event at Hi Corbett Field.
Hale was a bit hesitant at first to put some of that information out into the world. Then he came to a realization.
“The recruits love it. The fans love it,” Hale said. “And we’ve got some good numbers.”
The current players like it too. They all want to see their names atop the leaderboard.
“It creates competition,” sophomore catcher Daniel Susac said. “Competition brings out the best in everybody.”
Hale’s predecessor, Jay Johnson, cultivated a competitive environment at Arizona. He used every technological tool available but was guarded about publicizing information as basic as his pitchers’ velocities.
Johnson, a high school football player and admirer of Alabama coach Nick Saban, never wanted to give the opposition an edge. He also didn’t want his pitchers to be distracted by in-stadium radar readings — which are coming soon to Hi Corbett.
Hale understands where Johnson was coming from.
“All of it’s great. It just can’t be your master,” Hale said of analytics. “It’s a great teaching tool. But you’ve got to be careful not to get too caught up.
“We can create a lab in our cages. We have TVs. We have a smart board. I see guys throw pitches, and before they even finish their delivery, they’re looking up at the screen to see their spin rate.”
Pitching coach Dave Lawn doesn’t want his pupils to “throw a pitch and look at the computer.” If they want to check their numbers after a practice or game via the Arizona Baseball Analytics account?
“It’s all good,” Lawn said.
