WEYMOUTH, Mass. (June 2, 2020) -- The Futures Collegiate Baseball League has formed a new partnership with ChangeUp in advance of the 2020 season. Commissioner Joe Paolucci made the announcement on Tuesday.
ChangeUp is a simple, easy-to-use platform for tracking pitch counts and corresponding rest day requirements for pitchers. Beginning this summer, the ChangeUp mobile application and website (change-up.io) will retain and ease the process of tracking those league-mandated pitching guidelines and other player-specific data for the Futures League and its seven teams.
“This is an exciting partnership for us,” Paolucci said. “Not only will it help us ensure pitch count compliance but it will give our coaches more tools through analytics to improve our pitchers’ performance on the field.”
Headquartered north of Boston, ChangeUp was created by co-founders Drew Tripp and Jeremy Coffey. It is designed to provide an easy-to-use tool to track in-game pitch counts and will provide great benefit to the Futures League.
The Futures League has maintained pitch count and day of rest standards to help prevent its pitchers from being overused. These guidelines are similar to how many Major League Baseball organizations structure their pitchers’ development programs. League rules require any pitcher that throws 31-40 pitches in a game and/or pitches in two consecutive games to rest the next day. Additional days of rest are required as pitchers surpass the 41-50, 51-80, 81-99 and 100-plus-pitch marks.
Using the ChangeUp platform will allow the Futures League to standardize the collection of data, ensure compliance with the pitching guidelines and give players and coaches access to other features to help enhance the athlete’s performance.
As pitches are thrown during a game, the ChangeUp application automatically provides cues that a pitcher is reaching one of the aforementioned thresholds as well as the impact of impending days of rest against the team’s upcoming game schedule. Feedback for specific pitchers can also be recorded within the app during an outing. Data may be used to reveal trends, strengths, and weaknesses, providing coaches, trainers, parents, scouts and medical professionals unparalleled insight into an athlete’s past performances and future potential.
ChangeUp’s player-centric model enables complete and accurate tracking of pitching and required or recommended rest across any number of teams and seasons, providing crucial information to help avoid the overuse that is so prevalent amongst multi-team athletes. Additionally, ChangeUp allows visibility for collegiate coaches into the summer pitching activities of their players, a capability that no other pitching platform provides, and one that the Futures League is proud to be granting to the more than 150 college programs represented within the league.
“ChangeUp will allow college coaches visibility into the work that their pitchers are putting in during the summer,” Paolucci said. “This is right in line with our mission of communicating with college coaches to make sure that their players get the most out of the Futures League experience.”
“ChangeUp is exceptionally pleased to partner with the Futures Collegiate Baseball League to deploy the latest tool in the effort to protect pitchers from overuse injuries,” Tripp said. “The ChangeUp platform allows coaches to easily and comprehensively track pitch loads, game plan pitcher assignments based on upcoming match-ups and collect critical in-game individual analytics allowing coaches to help their pitchers reach their full potentials safely. We feel fortunate to have teamed up with such a forward-looking, innovative league in our inaugural year of operations, and are excited to witness some great things together this summer.”
All seven Futures League teams will use ChangeUp for the first time during the 2020 season, which is slated to begin at a later date this summer.
About the Futures Collegiate Baseball League (FCBL)
The FCBL is made up of seven teams from various parts of New England, each of which plays 28 home games and 28 away games. Each franchise is made up of elite collegiate athletes competing in a minor league style format. Each franchise provides high quality, affordable entertainment, in a casual, family-friendly atmosphere. At least 50% of the players on each team must be from New England or attend college in New England. The league has attracted more than two million fans to its games since debuting in 2011.
For further information, visit thefuturesleague.com and follow the league on Facebook (The Futures League), Twitter (@FuturesLeague) and Instagram (@futuresleagueofnewengland).
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