BY: WILL NUNN; SPORTS EDITOR
Photo: @LiquidSportsLab / X
The game of baseball has entered a new age. Gone are the days of using the eye test to evaluate a player or determining a player’s worth based on his batting average.
In today’s game, analytics are king. Advanced metrics and biomechanics can engineer a ballplayer to exact specifications, and can be used to limit injuries and maximize performance.
The St. Bonaventure baseball team has begun to introduce biomechanics into its training regimen through a new partnership with Liquid Sports Lab.
Founded by Roy Krishnan and based in Rochester, NY, Liquid Sports Lab is a performance and training center aimed at using science to develop and train athletes to maximize their kinematic efficiency.
This partnership, which came about through Bonaventure baseball’s regional ties, was a long time coming for Bonnies baseball, who had been on the hunt for a more analytically-driven pitching approach.
“We’ve always been looking for somebody that could do something like this for us, with getting into the biomechanics on the pitching side,” said Jason Rathbun, Bonaventure’s head baseball coach. “We found out about [Krishnan] and his team in Rochester because we have a lot of players from the Rochester area.”
Liquid Sports Lab can provide the Bonnies’ pitching staff with a wealth of information regarding their kinematics.
“It’s really about efficient movement patterns, biomechanical breakdowns, pitch tunneling, mechanical stuff,” said Rathbun. “There’s a lot that goes into range of motion and body composition. Pretty much everything scientific that has to do with pitching.”
The partnership between Bonnies baseball and the Liquid Sports Lab will allow the Bonnies’ coaching staff to provide their players with a wealth of critical information.
“The goal of our coaching staff is to empower our players with as much knowledge as possible,” said Rathbun. “Whatever we can do to make them a better athlete, let alone just throwing hard and staying healthy. We want to give our guys the knowledge that it takes for them to take their game to the next level.”
As Bonaventure tries to adjust to the new-age analytical focus surrounding the game of baseball, as well as the new era of collegiate athletics, there is a focus not on how quickly they can implement this data, but how efficiently and cost-effectively.
“I think we have to find what fits us,” said Rathbun. “We try to find partnerships that make sense financially and program-wise. We would love to have our own lab here on campus and be assessed like that for every bullpen, which happens at some schools. But for us, we’re just trying to find partnerships that can bridge those gaps a little bit because we don’t have those resources.”
As St. Bonaventure commits to improving their athletics across the board, the partnership with Liquid Sports Lab is one step in ensuring the highest quality experience for its athletes. The kinematic breakdowns and biomechanical analytics that it provides will help improve the health and performance of Bonaventure baseball during the progression of the offseason and beyond.
