Driveline R&D Podcast

Fun episode this week that gets into the nitty gritty of one of Driveline's fastest growing products - Driveline Academy! Had Jeremy Tecktiel, Asst Dir of Dirveline Academy (past TRAQ Project Manager for the software heads in audience!), come on and talk the tradeoff of teaching kids to throw and hit harder versus prioritizing winning as many games as possible at the youth level as well as the trials and tribulations of getting such a large and complex product off the ground...now in multiple locations! (WA & AZ) Also swapped loose stories of both of our mascot backgrounds and trivia triumps (or lack thereof!). Timestamps: 0:00 Intros & Light Degen Talk 3:03 Jeremy's Background & Academy Product 6:05 On Field Challenges for Driveline's Academy Team...Sure we're hitting/throwing harder but how do we handle bunts?? 10:20 Balance Value of Future Player Dev'l vs Winning Games Right Now 12:20 Communications & Expectations with Parents 17:45 Current Academy Team and Tryouts Construction 30:58 Driveline Academy's Unique Warmups (Which Plyos Do We Use?) 33:53 Value of Massive High Fidelity Youth Datasets (MoCap, Pulse, Blast, etc) 38:51 Jeremy's Background As A Mascot!! 41:45 Cara's Background As A Mascot!!! 46:15 Jeremy the TriviaMaster 53:10 Harry Potter Trivia Story + Extended HP Rambling 1:05:44 Driveline Academy in AZ 1:13:45 Training the Youth on Defense 1:17:05 Training Youth Command + Youth Umpire Stoies (Including Jeremy being tossed!!) 1:22:00 Academy Strategy on Breaking Balls Twitterz: Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan Jeremy Tecktiel: https://twitter.com/jeremytecktiel

Banger quad epi when ya boi wasn't on the edge of his seat trying to get into frame (made a snap decision on not messing around with the camera and was running low on time, plus figured Aydt, Stokey and Herzie were good looking enough to man the stage) -- we talked about a loooot of goodies from Herzie's experiences overseas, DL first impressions and running pro sales, along with the Hitting Dept MLB Hitting Product evolution and why smash factor balls are selling like hot cakes! And in a segment that'll fire up Kyle Boddy, Cara shares some inside Driveline Winter Meeting story memes... :shushing-finger-emoji: Timestamps 0:00 Intros + Wine/Napa talk 5:20 Herz's background + KBO talk 8:00 Herz's Initial Exp/Impression with DL 9:40 Past Biz DL deals with KBO + Herz's Time W/ Dodgers 13:55 ChatGPT answers 15:25 Hitting Dept Evolution over last year 21:00 Driveline's MLB Product on Hitting Side 24:25 Hi-Speed Machines More Common Now? 30:15 Cara Tells Boddy's fave Winter Meetings Stories/Memes 33:55 Driveline's Advantage Plan Offering + Lars Nootbaar Success Story 39:16 Recovery/Health Based Approach to Coaching MLB Hitters 42:45 History and Success of Smash Factor Balls 52:45 Herz's Impression of Seattle Twitterz: Alex Caravan: https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan Tanner Stokey: https://twitter.com/Tstokey Andrew Aydt: https://twitter.com/AndrewAydt Josh Herzenberg: https://twitter.com/joshherzenberg

Had Driveline's new Director of Pitching, Chris Langin, on to talk how much the MLB Product has exploded, the overall department growth and responsibilities that come with being a Director, what pitchers are saying about the pitch clock and its effects + just how popular the Sweeper is going to get! Also check out the video version for Langin's beer bottle opening skills...we also made up for the podcast break with some very quality rural/urban parallel degen drink talk! Timestamps: 0:00 Intros + Langin almost opens a beer bottle with his teeth!! 3:03 Kershaw Curve still dicing? 7:57 Degen drink talk throwback 13:25 Langin on animals + Growing up in Nebraska 19:00 Langin as Dir of Pitching 31:35 DL Pitching Dept Growth 39:45 How Langin and DL Pitching approaches MLB Advance Scouting 45:25 Insider View on MLB Pitchers reacting to rule changes? 48:30 BABIP Victims: Jansen, Brash??? 53:30 Common Fan SSS reactions + NBA playoffs talk 1:00:00 Sweepers and Slurves as new PT's -> effect across the league? 1:11:00 Going out (not) in AZ...Angels GM sighting out in the wild? Twitters: Alex Caravan -- https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan Chris Langin -- https://twitter.com/LanginTots13

Had Mitch Viydo, past Driveline trainee and Player Development Coordinator and Chief of Immaculate Training Floor Vibes. Shot the shit talking about his cup with the MS, winning the NBC World Series with the Seattle Studs, the upcoming rule changes (chatter puts the D more than the R in Research & Drinks, be warned), and some good ol' Driveline nostalgia reminiscing. May or may have had to make a couple of cuts in there! *insert that one emoji withe the monkey covering its mouth* Timestamps: 0:00 Intros 3:00 Mitch Playing Background 5:37 Mitch with the Ms Organization 12:09 Mitch's career with the Seattle Studs 16:40 2109 NBC World Series Win + Brady broken rib 22:28 Hunting down the right location for the AZ facility 26:10 Pitching In Crocs 27:40 What Can Mitch Throw Right Now? 29:15 Hot Takes on 2023 MLB Rule Changes 36:15 Impact On Fan Interest 40:15 Shift Ban Impact On Strategy 45:35 How Cara Started At DL 54:30 Mitch Starting In Gym Ops + Driveline Nostalgia Talk 57:30 Mitch Contractor Stories (Behind The Scenes On The TF Product) Twitters: Alex Caravan -- https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan Mitch Viydo -- https://twitter.com/mviydo

Had the legend Gary on -- will fill out this description more and drop timestamps when I'm not running late to a rendezvous (aka Tuesday morning). But v fun one talking about the research we've done on catcher framing, how Driveline trains catchers, the changing perception on catchers, Driveline's current Hitting Assessments and some throwback CR story classics from the Massage Ball to the Cod ;)    Timestamps  0:00 Intros  2:30 Gary's Intro to DL  4:25 Driveline's OG Hitting Environment  8:07 Driveline 2023 Hitting Training Approaches and Drills  13:08 The State of Catching Research and Training   16:13 Exchange vs Ball Flight Time  20:57 Low Hanging Fruit on Position Player Throwing and Workload  22:55 Do Catchers get the yips??  25:25 What's Hard To Catch?  28:28 Driveline's Behind The Scenes Framing Research  34:24 One Knee Getting More Popular?  38:00 Statcast Catching Metrics & Mainstream Framing WAR   41:22 Favorite Catchers + Brad Penny callback  45:10 Driveline Customer Relations Legendary Stories  57:50 Force Plates re: DL Hitting Twitters: Alex Caravan -- https://twitter.com/Alex_Caravan Maxx Garrett -- https://twitter.com/XX_Garrett