Shirt analyses pitching techniques

To address this issue, three Northeastern University engineering students have developed a data-logging shirt for pitchers that can help prevent elbow injuries while providing an electronic analysis of pitching.

The shirt was developed by Marcus Moche, Alexandra Morgan and David Schmidt as a Capstone Design Project - a senior-level team project that requires students to solve a real-world engineering problem or develop a viable product.

’No single device for measuring the quality of pitching currently exists, so we have proposed a shirt that is lightweight and can be worn during bullpen sessions or exhibition games,’ said Moche. ’The shirt can be used to show when a player becomes fatigued and his mechanics worsen, through a display of real-time information on a monitor in the dugout.’

Pitchers become more susceptible to injury when they lose consistency in how they throw the baseball, pitch after pitch.

Such a loss can increase the likelihood of a pitcher tearing the ulnar collateral ligament (UCL), the ligament that prevents lateral stress on the elbow. According to the students’ research, UCL injuries result in upwards of $54m (£36m) in salary losses each season.