Tommy Hunter making Phillies fans nervous

The struggles of Phillies pitcher Tommy Hunter stem in part from more hittable pitches, as his heatmaps show in this SB Nation article…

“Take a look at the heat maps for Hunter from 2017 and 2018. You can see that in 2018, there is a noticeable amount of pitches that are located in more hittable places the hitting zone than there were last year. In 2017, you see that the red is showing up more often below the belt and down against righties, whereas this year, there is more in the middle and up. Seeing pitches in those places helps jive with the numbers that hitters are producing against Hunter.”

Full article: SB Nation

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Rhys Hoskins struggles versus changeup

On SB Nation's Phillies blog, Paul Boyé looks at Rhys Hoskins' struggles against the changeup.

"Entering Saturday afternoon’s game, Hoskins had seen exactly 100 changeups in all counts, according to TruMedia. ...

In 2-1 counts, Hoskins is being baited. He’s waiting for a fastball, and instead he’s getting the string pulled on him fairly frequently. And when that string gets pulled, well, you see what’s been happening.

Now, that’s not an AB-ender. A 2-1 whiff gives you another shot, and Hoskins has been more than capable of handling himself in two-strike counts. Lately, though, the changeup has been used with incredible effectiveness against him in those two-strike counts."

Full article: SB Nation

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Gerrit Cole's changing strategy
Gerrit Cole's changing strategy

ESPN's David Schoenfeld uses TruMedia imagery to show how Gerrit Cole's fastball location has changed this season.

"Cole was solid across the board in 2017, with a high home run rate leading to a 4.26 ERA. The increase in strikeout rate and swing-and-miss rate is phenomenal -- and note that his ground ball rate has plummeted.

As you might expect, and as others have reported, it’s a change in philosophy. The Pirates like two-seamers and ground balls; the Astros like four-seamers and strikeouts. You can see the difference in Cole's fastball location."

Full article: ESPN.com

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TruMedia wins Best Elite Performance Technology
TruMedia wins Best Elite Performance Technology

TruMedia Networks and OptaPro, through the analytical platform ProVision, won Best Elite Performance Technology at the 2018 Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards on May 3 in London.

"Developed by OptaPro in partnership with TruMedia Networks, ProVision is the cutting-edge tool that helps teams make more informed decisions across global recruitment and performance analysis.

Since launching in 2017, professional clubs and federations from around the world have been using ProVision to support their analysis process.

Albert Larcada, TruMedia's Director of Analytics, added: 'Lots of hard work and ingenuity from dozens of people at both TruMedia and OptaPro went into making this product, which makes winning this award very gratifying. The collaboration between our two companies resulting in this product that directly improves team decision-making and processes has been amazing to see firsthand.'"

Full press release

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Strikeouts continue to rise
Strikeouts continue to rise

The Washington Post's Neil Greenberg uses TruMedia's platform and imagery to explore how and why MLB's strikeout rate continues to rise.

"A decade ago, the first year data is available, less than 75 percent of pitches in the strike zone were called strikes, but that has since improved to 85 percent in 2017 and more than 86 percent this season. Plus, pitchers are inducing more swinging strikes (10.7 percent vs. 8.7 percent in 2008) than ever before."

Full article: Washington Post

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Scouting defenders in Ligue 2
Scouting defenders in Ligue 2

On the OptaPro blog, TruMedia's Paul Carr uses ProVision to analyze Ligue 2 defenders who could be possible recruitment targets this summer.

"Laporte has now jumped out from the numbers twice, so let’s examine his passing in greater detail. He’s not just nudging the ball to a midfielder to carry up the pitch, he’s getting the ball into the attack effectively. Per 90 minutes, Laporte averages 6.6 passes into the attacking third this season, third-most out of these 23 defenders.

Getting more granular, Laporte has also completed the most passes from the defensive third to the attacking half, both on a total (56) and per-90 (2.2) basis this season. He’s also completing those passes at a higher rate (59%) than any of the others, as his passing map shows."

Full article: OptaPro (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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Nola Pitching to (Bad) Contact
Nola Pitching to (Bad) Contact

On SB Nation's Phillies blog, Paul Boyé uses TruMedia's platform and graphics to show how Aaron Nola is succeeding by pitching to bad contact.

"Let’s start with the recently resurgent changeup, which Nola threw a career-high-matching 28 times Friday. He’s thrown 104 of them on the year now, and given up exactly five hits.

The above TruMedia heatmaps represent Nola’s changeup locations and SLG allowed, respectively. He’s locating it exceptionally well, and hitters are doing squat with it. The spots are in line with how he’s normally located the pitch, but he’s hung fewer over the heart of the plate and, as a result, been victimized less. That’s usually a pretty good recipe for success, and the contact rates bear that out so far."

Full article: SB Nation

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Tony Kahn at CAA World Congress of Sports
Tony Kahn at CAA World Congress of Sports

At the CAA World Congress of Sports, TruMedia Networks owner Tony Kahn talked sports and analytics.

"Tony, who also owns and operates data firm TruMedia Networks, noted analytics has become a big part of Fulham, particularly as it looks to return to the EPL. Tony: 'We really turned things around by going to a more analytics-heavy approach. Basically, we weigh analytics 50% in every decision we make.'"

Full article: SportsBusiness Daily

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Creative midfielders in Denmark
Creative midfielders in Denmark

On OptaPro's blog, TruMedia's Paul Carr uses ProVision to find Danish Superliga creative midfielders who could be recruitment targets.

"ProVision allows for several stat views other than totals, which may emphasise quantity over quality. Looking at the same numbers on a per-90-minute basis, Mukhtar isn’t quite as dominant, still leading in big chances created and expected assists, while sliding to third in chances created behind Jensen and Besar Halimi, who played seven fewer games.

The type of creativity matters, since a central midfielder and a winger would fit differently into a line-up. Looking at types of passes attempted, Mukhtar ranks second with 13 through balls and 32nd with 22 crosses, indicating he plays primarily in a central role.

Filtering down to the central third of the field shows that 12 of his 13 through balls come from there, as do 58 of his 60 chances created, profiling Mukhtar as a number 10."

Full article: OptaPro (by Paul Carr, Director of Content Development)

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