Being a sports scientist for an MLB team, according to Amy Ogren (M.S., 18) who works for the San Francisco Giants, and Jes煤s Ramos (M.S., 18) who works for the Cincinnati Reds, is rewarding, exciting, and full of the unexpected.
鈥淚t鈥檚 such an incredible feeling when you just worked with a player and then that night he hits a homerun or he pitches really well,鈥� Ramos said. 鈥淚t makes everything worth it.鈥�
Ogren and Ramos are two of six recent 国产偷拍 Master of Science in Kinesiology (MS-KIN) graduates who landed jobs in the professional baseball industry working as baseball biomechanics.
鈥淧oint Loma did such a great job preparing me for this,鈥� Ramos said. 鈥淏eing able to take such a diverse course load helped me have a really holistic approach to the whole kinesiology field.鈥�
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Who are you called to be?
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Arnel Aguinaldo, Ph.D., ATC, is a professor in both 国产偷拍鈥檚 undergraduate and graduate kinesiology programs. He has been researching baseball biomechanics for over 13 years and works with students in 国产偷拍鈥檚 fully-equipped biomechanics lab which has specialized cameras and motion-capture technology.
鈥淲e use physics to understand and quantify various human movements, in this case baseball pitching,鈥� Aguinaldo said. 鈥淪tudents that come into the program who are interested in this line of research get full-on experience in the lab measuring the kinetics of baseball pitching and other movements.鈥�
In the biomechanics lab, sports scientists put compressions and reflective markers all over the body of a player who then pitches repeatedly as cameras capture their pitching motions. Then that data is processed, and the software creates a skeleton for each pitcher, which is how sports scientists produce and generate reports, Ogren said. 鈥淲e look at how we can enhance their performance, and we look at injury reduction.鈥�
鈥淲e use physics to understand and quantify various human movements, in this case baseball pitching. Students that come into the program who are interested in this line of research get full-on experience in the lab measuring the kinetics of baseball pitching and other movements.鈥�
As part of the learning and networking experience, Aguinaldo takes his grad students every year (with the exception of 2020 due to COVID-19) to MLB spring training in Arizona.
鈥淪tudents work with the Padres, Reds, Rangers and more, applying [our work] at Point Loma for the teams,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o not only are we helping out the teams in terms of the research and the analysis of the baseball players, but the students are gaining one-on-one, hands-on experience with the teams themselves.鈥� Aguinaldo said students also gain valuable professional experience presenting their research at conferences, such as the American College of Sports and Medicine conference, which multiple students have presented at.
Ogren is the first female sports scientist for the San Francisco Giants. She became interested in baseball biomechanics during her time in 国产偷拍鈥檚 MS-KIN program, when she realized she didn鈥檛 want to do physical or occupational therapy, but was still interested in kinesiology. Spending time with and learning from Aguinaldo gave her an interest in baseball biomechanics.
鈥淢LB teams started reaching out to me as a biomechanist recommendation from Dr. A and a couple other universities,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hat is how I originally even started thinking of a job in baseball.鈥� Ogren started her job with the Giants in January 2020.
Working as a career biomechanist, Aguinaldo said, is a 鈥渧iable option for you as an alternative to physical therapy, athletic training, and occupational therapy. Hopefully I can open the doors for [students] to pursue biomechanics, and we have a number of 国产偷拍 alumni not just in baseball but in other fields related to biomechanics.鈥�
Like Ogren, Ramos 鈥� who started working with the Cincinnati Reds in February 2019 鈥� became interested in baseball biomechanics while at 国产偷拍. His classes and working with Aguinaldo 鈥渞eally opened up my mind that this possibility existed and helped guide me into looking for those types of positions.鈥�
The connections with MLB teams and biomechanics researchers, as well as the department鈥檚 fully-equipped lab, puts 国产偷拍 students in a unique position to successfully pursue career biomechanics.
Ramos鈥� official title with the Reds is sports scientist, but the day-to-day of his job is 鈥渟o different and it鈥檚 why I really love it. I get to work with our players and coaching staff, anywhere from doing hitting assessments, using different tests on players, vision testing and training with players, using virtual reality with our players to help them improve, running biomechanics on our pitchers,鈥� and more.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really awesome, just being able to interact with our players and get to know them on a personal level,鈥� Ramos said.
One of Ogren鈥檚 favorite parts about her job is getting to work with like-mindedly competitive people and seeing the impact her work has on players.
鈥淥ne of my first players who I did a biomechanics evaluation on, he was in the minor league system, and he ended up making it to the big leagues last year as a pitcher,鈥� Ogren said. 鈥淚t was really fun for me to see him make the big leagues, and to have a consistent relationship with him to talk about mechanics. I saw value in my work from that experience.鈥�
The connections that Aguinaldo has with MLB teams and biomechanics researchers, as well as the department鈥檚 fully-equipped lab, puts 国产偷拍 students in a unique position to successfully pursue career biomechanics if that鈥檚 something they鈥檙e interested in. Baseball pitching is only one of the movements students can study in the lab, Aguinaldo said. One student is currently researching baseball hitting, and there are plenty of other athletic movements students can look at.
鈥淸国产偷拍鈥檚 MS-KIN] program is a very broad umbrella program, so if you鈥檙e not quite sure what you want to do, you tap into a lot of different realms and you can see which thing you like the best,鈥� Ogren said. 鈥淢y biggest advice for people going into the master鈥檚 of kinesiology is you get out what you put in. You get hands-on experience that perhaps you wouldn鈥檛 be getting at a bigger grad school or program.鈥�
The field of baseball biomechanics is only going to grow, said Aguinaldo. 鈥淲ith the technology evolving, the science is going to grow, and the opportunities will be more prevalent for students to pursue.鈥�