DVS Baseball is known for it's ability to maximize the potential and efficiency of baseball players across all levels of the sport. As I’ve recently joined the DVS Baseball team, I look back at the implementation of DVS at the United Shore Professional Baseball League and the effect it has had on some of the most successful pitchers in the USPBL and how it has a positive change in their careers.

As consumers get ready for the holiday shopping season, MLB general managers are doing the same as they evaluate their team needs and available free agents.  Nearly $2 billion dollars have been paid to pitchers while on the injured list in MLB since 2015.   Injuries have led to significant buyer’s remorse.  The DVS Analytics team used our proprietary Injury Risk (IR) model to assess this year’s free agent pitchers to see their likelihood of playing through their contract without succumbing to a major throwing-related arm injury*.  We focused on the top of top free agent pitchers, according to mlb.com’s Mark Feinsand.  Let’s dig into the results and to our GM friends, buyer beware.

Pitching injuries continue to be a major driver in uncertainty, loss of performance, and dollars lost for Major League Baseball (MLB) organizations. According to data from Spotrac, 18,369 days were missed by pitchers on the disabled list with a throwing-related injury in 2019, the last full season of Major League Baseball. That is equivalent to about 102 full pitcher seasons or just under one-third of all opening day pitchers missing the entire season. This translates into $318,667,058 total dollars lost for MLB clubs by paying pitchers unable to perform on the field.

Over the last ten years, a growing problem has manifested throughout baseball and is negatively impacting pitchers at every level, creating a pandemic in baseball of pitching injuries. Although well documented, the injuries have been downplayed and considered the new norm as the private sector fuels a pitcher's desire to obtain high velocity and achieve max performance. The best way to explain how this cycle of injuries amongst pitchers occurs is to understand a baseball pitcher's life cycle, how it has shifted, and the role the private sector plays on the health, performance, and careers of pitchers.

DVS Baseball will now offer the DVS Bullpen, an all-encompassing athlete management and development software, to organizations, teams, and coaches. DVS Bullpen 2.0 provides the ability to track health, function, mechanics, bullpens, performance and as the player improves, easily share results. The overall goal of the DVS Bullpen is to provide a simple yet effective way to better develop players

MLB seems to be pivoting from the traditional workhouse starting pitcher to "openers" or starters who serve as a bridge to high velocity bullpens. Pitching staffs at the MLB level are changing but is the change a positive shift for MLB Teams in terms of winning?

The auto industry spends over $40B globally per year on warranty. So how does this relate to baseball? In 2019, over 22,000 days were spent on the injured list by pitchers. In terms of seasons, this is equivalent to the complete pitching staff of 10 MLB teams, a third of the league, missing the entire season. Like the auto industry, MLB is suffering from warranty and product quality. What if there was a diagnostic system that could identify if a pitcher was at risk of injury?

DVS Baseball is excited to announce the addition of Bill Leisenring to the DVS Baseball Team. Bill will serve as the Chief Technology Officer and will be directly in charge of all product development initiatives and implementation.

As youth pitching injuries continue to be on the rise, DVS Baseball is committed to work with young pitchers to avoid this fate. DVS Baseball is creating regional-based development centers across the United States with organizations that have a passion for injury prevention and the development of baseball pitchers.

An expanded online training platform is now available for new and existing clients of DVS Baseball. The expanded platform aims to integrate DVS Baseball’s Bullpen software and enhanced M.VP. Program into an all encompassing online training platform.

On March 13th, DVS Baseball will travel to Phoenix, AZ to present their research in the pitching delivery at the 2020 SABR Analytic Conference. The SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) Analytics Conference brings together the top minds in the baseball analytics community to discuss, debate and share insightful ways to analyze and examine the great game of baseball.

As one of the first and most successful pitchers to train under the DVS System, Josh Mason has now been hired to implement and manage the DVS System in Metro Detroit. Josh will oversee and manage the DVS Development Center within 2SP Sports in Madison Heights, MI.

In July of 2015, a study was released in the American Journal of Sports Medicine that revealed that nearly 60% of Tommy John surgeries in occur in teenage males between the ages of 15 and 19. Now, four years later, have the statistics surrounding throwing injuries from youth pitchers to the Major League pitchers improved? From our statistics and observations, the answer is NO.

DVS Baseball completed a major data re-collection and database expansion in the Fall of 2018. This expansion increased the number of professional and college pitchers in our database to over 1200, including every MLB pitcher on an opening day 2018 roster. With the recent database expansion, the DVS Model continues to prove a pitcher’s mechanics significantly influence their time to a major injury.