Analytics for Dummies: Communication key for Oscar Marin's approach with Pirates pitchers

From the first pitchers meeting of spring training, Oscar Marin made an immediate impression on the Pittsburgh Pirates by conducting what Jameson Taillon jokingly called an Analytical Seminar for Dummies.

It was something Marin simplified for himself while taking a deep dive into the analytical world of data-driven baseball, a way to block out the white noise and concentrate on what the numbers were screaming.

“He went over every single world, every number that you see,” Taillon said of the Pirates’ new pitching coach. “The reports that you see, he broke down how to read them and how to interpret them, which was really nice for me. It was kind of like a fresh start.”

By breaking down advanced analytics into layman’s terms, Marin taught Pirates pitchers how to speak his language and see baseball in a different light. The use of Rapsodo machines, Edgertronic cameras and TrackMan for data-driven reports available after every pitch have provided instant feedback for information-starved pitchers.

For Marin, it’s about knowing how a pitcher’s mind works and maximizing their repertoire with more precision on pitch location. He laid that foundation with the staff this spring and continued to preach it throughout the three-plus months the sport was shut down, to the point that he was confident the staff was ready.

“A lot of it comes to being in front of a screen, looking at numbers,” Marin said. “I think being able to translate that information and making it easier to read and see and to understand, I think that really helps out.”

That’s where Pirates manager Derek Shelton saw the true value of Marin and bullpen coach Justin Meccage, especially while the sport was shut down for three-plus months. Marin conducted Zoom calls with Pirates pitchers at 3 p.m. every Wednesday, not only providing pitching plans for them but keeping tabs on their progress throughout the covid-19 quarantine.

Players want information on everything from analytics to movement pattern, Shelton said, and if it’s not provided by the Pirates, then they will find it elsewhere.

“So we have to make sure we’re very well-versed at it,” Shelton said. “But the overall ability of all of that is the ability to communicate, and Oscar has that. If you spend any time talking to any of our pitchers, the first thing they’re going to rave about is his ability to communicate.

“Because you can know all the other things, but if you can’t translate that into the players’ language – and each individual player’s language – then it doesn’t matter. The one thing about communication is if it’s not consistent and understandable, it’s chaos. And we don’t want chaos. We want consistent information that people understand and his ability to break it down for each guy.”

Shelton knew he found the right man when he got “over the top” endorsements from major-league players he trusted about Marin’s reputation in the game and his understanding and ability to combine the teaching of advanced analytics with the biomechanics of pitching.

What Pirates pitchers have found is that the 37-year-old Marin is detail- and process-oriented, with a deep desire to be informed. Whether that’s through analytics or video review, he has proven to be thorough. With a background in biomechanics and a data-driven approach, Marin uses his engaging personality to teach pitchers how to understand the analytics.

“It was something we never really had or never really saw,” Kuhl said. “The data is right there for you to look back every pitch. You could throw a pitch, look and kind of base what you felt and what the data says and kind of match it up or try and improve on that. It’s nice to have something that qualitatively says, ‘This is what you did. This is how you felt.’ And try to blend those together. And Oscar just being super hands-on, a lot of us are super in-tune with the way our bodies are and we want instant feedback. We want to work and learn and do all that stuff.

“So, the instant feedback from Oscar has been great.”

That brings up the broader question: Will it work?

The Pirates pitching staff is counting on it. The starting rotation lost its ace in Taillon and a two-time All-Star in Chris Archer to season-ending surgeries. The bullpen lost All-Star closer Felipe Vazquez to an arrest, and his replacement, Keone Kela, has missed the first week-plus of training camp for undisclosed reasons. Even so, Pirates pitchers are buying in. They believe Marin already has made an impact.

Taillon credited Marin with being “extremely well-equipped” to help map out the mechanical changes of his shortened delivery, and “leading the charge” by putting weighted balls in his hand, convincing him to use a core velocity belt and medicine ball to strengthen not only his right elbow but his core in recovering from Tommy John surgery.

“He’s been a big help,” Taillon said. “I’m jumping into the analytical world a little bit more with spin rate, spin efficiency release points, and Oscar is very well-versed it that.”

Trevor Williams said he feels like he “made a leap” while working with Marin during the downtime. They live nearby in Arizona, so Marin would meet twice a week with Williams to work on spinning his breaking pitches with consistency.

“We were able to throw my curveball a lot more, my slider a lot more, my changeup a lot more, really just chipping away and building up my weapons in a controlled setting like we were,” Williams said. “I had 12 weeks of one-on-one time with Oscar in my bullpens … to really dial in the ability to repeat my delivery more and more and kind of fine-tune it there. I feel like I made strides and I made the most of my 12 weeks at home, like I believe a lot of guys did.”

That feedback was missing from Marin’s predecessor, Ray Searage, and Pirates pitchers aren’t subtle about speaking up about how they suffered for it. The information Marin offers is not only new to them but welcomed in a way they never imagined.

“With Oscar being around and helping everybody – he relates really well to the young guys and knows the analytics really well,” left-hander Steven Brault said, “we’re not going to be dying out there.”