Colby Morris

Data analyst & strategist
Director, PD & Analytics @ Apex Baseball & Team Nicaragua
MBA Candidate @BerkeleyHaas
Fmr: @DrivelineBB @Mets @Mariners @LaBarraBrava

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@hedgertronic Also chess is just such a good teacher for sports research questions

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@hedgertronic This is kind of reminds me of the classic explanation to the Monte Carlo simulation logic: Over the course of a large sample, the plot becomes the reliable shape of command-ability and can accurately predict the pitcher's strategy flaws relative to the actual zone

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@dannybarrand_ Yeah you'll see this pretty much across the board with college data and it's all cooked into the models teams have. Spot on though, Gaeckle/Flora will certainly benefit from the extension boost even at the cost of IVB.

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@RBunikiewicz @joe_douglas_ Remi! Congratulations man!!

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

I lump in friends and teammates to the private coaching group as well. Basically, any non-team external influences

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

Players make changes from one of three sources:

Team Coaches | Private Coaches | Themselves

As an agency/team, establish trust with players. Iteration happens, so don't hide information from players & let them explore with guardrails (iteration doesn't mean aimless tinkering)

[Katie Woo @katiejwoo]

In between starts, Roki Sasaki had an idea. He approached pitching coaches Mark Prior and Connor McGuiness and said he wanted to throw his splitter harder, similar to how he did in the 2023 WBC. McGuiness tinkered the grip and Sasaki let it rip.

https://t.co/VyXBtkJKR9

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@RobertStock6 It's the question of forward dynamics--we still need to 'guess' what impact a change will have on an athlete's performance: We can only say 'X' change might bring outcome 'Y'. This applies to pitching/jump shot/sprinting and is why there's art to coaching/knowing a player

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

I love the game theory thoughts and I see both pros and cons with the application in game environments:
-You are totally right and pitchers give up their advantage when they are repeatable (PitchCom can absolutely gamify this as well for randomness and I think it should be used more)
-I think historically, however, baseball has overvalued 'changing eye level' etc. as good hitters will still hit a bad pitch after a 'different' pitch
-While variance is crucial, there's a point of diminishing return in throwing your low RV pitch even if unexpected instead of your 'sat-on' high RV pitch

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@tangotiger Yes any kind of review, play type grouped on X-Axis along with score ranges. Y-Axis is # of outs and # of runners

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

Un equipo, una nación...Vamos Nicaragua!

[8DeportivoTN8 @8DeportivoTN8]

Colby Morris, del equipo de analítica de la selección nicaragüense de béisbol:

"Estamos trabajando para enfrentar a Cristopher Sánchez de República Dominicana". #Beisbol #WBC #Nicaragua #CaminoAlClasico8D

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

Elite mover, easy to dream on this projection and preexisting non-teachable traits. Can’t wait to see how his time at UCLA plays out!!

[Matthew Knauer @matthewk36711]

Elai Iwanaga flashed incredible stuff in his debut, striking out three of the four TCU hitters he faced.

Four whiffs on the breakers from a few different shapes — the ones that stood out:

84 mph -8/-10
83 mph -10/-8
78 mph -15/-8

Consistently 2900-3000 RPMs, and the four-seam had a cut-ride shape with 23-24 iVB at 93 mph.

Not to mention a wicked changeup that got a whiff at 85 mph 2/20.

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

I'm excited to be part of Team Nicaragua as Head of Analytics & Advance Scouting during this year’s @WBCBaseball

Currently in Nicaragua before heading to Miami for the WBC! ¡Vamos!

[Financial Times @FT]

FT Global MBA Ranking 2026: which schools ranked the highest? https://t.co/xQJtNCFYJK

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

@tangotiger In my experience with ABS, the player's hubris and service time was a big factor. Service time/experience led to accuracy, hubris led to angry teammates

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

Next steps are to increase video sample size and bucket shooters based on their shot type preferences (jumper vs paint vs 3PT), size, and biomechanical preferences

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

NBA Biomechanical Analysis Part II:
I dove deeper into what makes a good shooter using Google's MediaPipe and slo mo NBA videos of a few shooters and the same techniques as the SPL Open Data to see if non-free throw elbow extension played as big a role as free throw:

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

Free throw biomechanical analysis:
Just wrapped an analysis on free throw biomechanics using the open source SPL dataset. Thought hip drive would be the key driver but turns out elbow extension ROM is the strongest predictor of makes. Shorter players especially rely on full extension to get necessary arc.

https://t.co/Ys7cqgHQFW

Interesting cross-sport applications could be the influence of other distal kinetic chain drivers on 'command' and optimal arc/angle such as knee extension in a soccer kick and wrist extension in the throw. Maybe looseness and accessing full ROM at this stage could be a strong predictor of motor control?

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

Video quality is imperfect and sample size needs to be larger, but clearly less ROM on the shot from Curry suggests a shorter stroke is needed in real time. Bigger, non-ball handlers likely have more time to catch and shoot and still get the shot above defenders

[Jeff Passan @JeffPassan]

Right-handed submariner Josh Hejka and the Texas Rangers are in agreement on a minor league contract, a source tells ESPN.

[Colby Morris @Colbasaur08]

I was very confident Ken would get back to 95+ this winter--he was restricted from any drill work in his rehab process, had little mechanical guidance, and picked up some bad habits. Off to the races now, great work @TurnerGivens 👏

[Turner Givens @TurnerGivens]

Whoever picks up @Ken_Waldichuk is getting an absolute steal.

Hardest avg and top FB velocity since pre TJ (and it was a bullpen).

Shapes are coming together. Big year ahead for him as he returns to his former self 🐐

@TreadHQ