Kyodai catcher to use brains not brawn with Yakult Swallows | The ...

A university catcher has been hired to formulate strategy for pitchers on a professional baseball team, but he’ll be working behind the scenes instead of behind the plate.

Rintaro Mizuno could end up revolutionizing Japanese baseball, his coach said.

Next spring, after graduating from Kyoto University, Mizuno will work as an analyst for the Tokyo Yakult Swallows of Nippon Professional Baseball.

He will collect and apply data gathered on professional players through pitch-tracking and other high-tech devices to enhance the Swallows’ lineup.

Mizuno, 23, will be the first person to be hired directly from college for a staff position on the Central League team.

“I am hoping that I can help players perform better through my work while fully listening to how they feel,” Mizuno said.

He is currently studying fundamental physical chemistry and conducts experiments on molecular speed at the elite university. He has also accumulated experience in applying technology in the sport.

Kyoto University has introduced Rapsodo, a pitch-tracking device, to improve the players’ skills. Rapsodo instantly provides data on spin rate, range of break and other pitching metrics.

Mizuno has given advice to university pitchers based on data collected through the device.

“He may be able to change the way Japanese professional baseball is,” said Kyoto University baseball team manager Reo Chikada. “His joining a professional baseball club could also alter the way baseball players play at elite schools, including Kyoto University.”

In his third year in college, Mizuno planned to go to a graduate school.

However, Chikada, 34, suggested work as a professional baseball analyst earlier this year, and Mizuno delayed his plans to work on a master’s degree.

He is expected to first get involved in the development of Yakult players in the farm league.

Chikada, a former professional pitcher with the Fukuoka Softbank Hawks, has been impressed by Mizuno’s ability to use and apply data provided by Rapsodo. He is convinced that Mizuno can bring Japanese players to new levels.

“In Japan’s professional baseball, high-tech data analytics, including Rapsodo and Hawk-Eye, have been used,” Chikada said. “But I hear that coaches and players are not well versed in how to apply technology to bolster their performances. That is regrettable.”

Such technology can turn aspects of pitches, batters’ swings and body movement into numbers and visual data.

But Nippon Professional Baseball lags behind Major League Baseball in terms of fully taking advantage of such analytical data.

Chikada said Mizuno is not just tech-savvy but is also adept at clearly explaining what he has learned from the data with his teammates.

Mizuno’s position as a catcher also enabled him to closely monitor the characteristics of batters on opposing teams. He uses the information gained to help his teammates better position themselves on defense.

In a notebook he keeps on all 220 individual players of rival teams in the Kansai Big 6 Baseball League, one entry says: “This player often hits ground balls because he tends to swing at low outside pitches.”

Another entry says a different player “swings with a tilt in his left shoulder and pulls the ball with top spin.”

Mizuno began producing his own data in spring 2023, resulting in four- to six-page reports on each opposing team.

His data helped Kyoto University defeat Kansai University, the champion in the 2023 autumn season, in the opening game this spring.

In that game, Mizuno correctly predicted which direction the opposing batters would likely hit, allowing his team to shift their defense for easier outs.

“I am the type of person who follows the process of planning, doing, checking and acting,” he said of his approach to his studies and baseball games. “I become anxious if I am not fully prepared theoretically.”

He also said his baseball skills improved after he entered the university due to the “free discussions” on the team.

“When I played baseball at the elementary, junior high and high school level, I sometimes dreaded practice after receiving so many scoldings,” he said. “But our skills seemed to have improved at the university because we exchange opinions and have discussions daily on how to perform better.”

Mizuno is not the first from his university selected to become an analyst with a professional baseball team.

Last year, Daichi Mihara, an economics major, joined the Hanshin Tigers as an analyst. Mihara served as a coach of Kyoto University’s baseball team despite having zero experience of actually playing the sport.

Chikada hopes the Kyoto University graduates will transform professional baseball with their ability to process and apply data.