Capturing day-to-day variability in pitching mechanics with an array of wearable inertial sensors

Arm injuries in baseball pitchers are highly prevalent at all levels of the sport. By utilizing wearable inertial measurement units (IMUs), we aim to develop a day-to-day monitoring system that can quantify player-specific variations in pitching mechanics to enable more precise pitching workload protocols and to reduce susceptibility to injury. We describe the first step towards this goal, the development of algorithms that enable pitching mechanics to be quantified in non-laboratory settings, and present sample results from a 46-pitch bullpen session to demonstrate the utility of our approach.