Data from the Diamond

Syracuse University students took center stage at this year’s Saberseminar, presenting original research to Major League Baseball professionals. Held Aug. 29-30 at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Saberseminar—officially Sabermetrics, Scouting, and the Science of Baseball—has grown into one of the sport’s premier analytics gatherings, drawing academics, data scientists, scouts and front-office staff from across baseball.

Syracuse sent one of the larger university delegations to this year’s event, with six students from the Falk College of Sport presenting the research they developed over the past year:

• Gavin Anderson ’28 — “Quick to the Plate: Investigating Slide Step Biomechanical Efficiency through Computer Vision Analysis”
• Noah Bair ’27 — “Mechanical Fatigue Detection from Broadcast Video: A Computer Vision Pipeline for Pitcher Biomechanics”
• Andrew Diamond ’27 — “Protecting the Lead: Introducing Shutdown Rate Above Expected (SRAE) as a Measure of High-Leverage Threat Prevention”
• Ethan Diamond ’28 — “Optimizing Pitching Performance through Spin Efficiency and Arm Slot Alignment”
• Aidan Gilbert ’28 — “Quantifying Umpire Positioning and its Influence on Ball-Strike Decisions”
• Kalen Muehlig ’28— “Predicting Decline of MLB Position Players’ Prime”

The students’ talks explored pitcher biomechanics, player aging curves, umpire behavior, and defensive leverage metrics—showcasing the range of quantitative and computer-vision-driven approaches central to the sport analytics curriculum at Falk College.

“The quality of the presentations—both analysis and delivery—has been super high the last few years,” Dan Brooks, a Saberseminar organizer, told Sport Analytics Program Manager Jackie Dorchester.

Ethan Diamond, who presented on pitch spin efficiency and arm slot, used Baseball Savant data spanning more than 1,800 pitcher-seasons to test whether a pitcher’s arm angle and spin profile need to be “aligned”—a high release point paired with high spin efficiency, or a low release point paired with low spin efficiency—to be effective. His findings suggested there’s no single blueprint: spin efficiency and arm angle each significantly affected performance, but the specific relationship depended on the pitch type, with changeups, sinkers and curveballs proving most sensitive to spin efficiency, and curveballs, sinkers and sweepers most sensitive to arm angle. Diamond also found that pitchers do shift these traits from year to year at meaningful rates, suggesting the changes are mechanically realistic targets for player development staff rather than fixed traits.

“It was a great experience presenting my work in front of MLB executives and analysts, and I made some valuable connections along the way, including conversations with a few teams about potential internship and job opportunities,” Diamond said.

The experience also opened doors beyond the podium. Noah Bair, a senior who presented on pitcher biomechanics, said he spoke with analysts from six MLB clubs—the Mariners, Yankees, Nationals, Athletics, Cardinals and Diamondbacks.

“It was great to hear from MLB analysts about their day-to-day work and what kinds of skills they’re looking for when they hire new analysts,” Bair said, adding that two of the teams encouraged him to apply to current openings on their analytics staffs.

For Kalen Muehlig, who presented research on predicting the decline of MLB position players’ primes, reconnecting with Syracuse University alumni was a highlight of the experience.

“Overall, I found Saberseminar to be an enjoyable experience where I was able to present and talk to industry professionals as well as strengthen relationships with my Syracuse peers,” he said.

This year’s Saberseminar speakers also included Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall and researchers from institutions including Rice University, Vanderbilt University and the University of Missouri, giving Falk College students the chance to present alongside and build connections with professionals from across the baseball analytics industry.