Checking In On the Mariners’ New Health and Wellness Program

In a quiet offseason (by Jerry Dipoto’s standards, anyway) Dr. Lorena Martin was one of the Mariners’ biggest acquisitions—in terms of splash, at least. Hired to coordinate off-field efforts to maximize performance, it hasn’t been particularly clear what sorts of effects she has had on the team’s training or preparation. This is by design, of course; the hire was part of a long-term plan to revolutionize how the Mariners get ready for games and recover. Six months on, this piece in something called “SportTechie” gives a first look at what concrete steps the Mariners have taken, in addition to their overall efforts to embrace technology.

The pitching staff has had access to a couple new pieces of technology: the Motus baseball sleeve and Rapsodo’s pitching camera. The Motus is the more interesting piece of information as far as the Mariners’ health efforts are concerned; James Paxton made a point in the offseason to enter 2018 in better shape (all together now: Best Shape Of His Life!), and right here he specifically credits the Motus with teaching him that he was throwing too hard in between starts, allowing him to dial things back to keep his arm in better shape overall. I think we may have seen the dividends thus far in 2018: he has yet to miss any time with injury, and is throwing more pitches per start than any season this far in his career—and of course there’s the legendary no-hitter, sitting 99-100 mph on his final pitches.

For full article:  https://www.lookoutlanding.com/2018/6/27/17502698/checking-in-on-the-mariners-new-health-and-wellness-program-lorena-martin-seattle-mariners-blah