From The Heart: Bonnies Baseball Using Analytics To Break Down The Numbers

The 'From The Heart' feature series takes an in-depth look at St. Bonaventure student-athletes and coaches. Named for the beloved Merton's Heart that overlooks campus, this series will tell the stories of Bonnies athletic programs on and off the field. For previous installments in the series, click here.

Baseball relies on numbers like no other sport. The national pastime has long built traditions on numbers - now many teams are using new technology to improve their standing on the field.

Head coach Jason Rathbun arrived in August 2022 at St. Bonaventure after spending 17 years at the helm of the Herkimer College baseball program. From day one, he wanted to expand the use of analytics.

“Analytics is seen as a tool and something you could use to help you win games, and something to help make your program better,” he said.

This has led the Bonnies coaching staff to dive head first into baseball analytics.

Associate head coach B.J. Salerno, ‘09 saw the transformation from the old-school ways during his playing career at St. Bonaventure to the new-age analytics he uses as an associate head coach. 

“It’s been fun,” Salerno said, “It gives you a much better feeling going into the weekend that you are much better prepared.”

The team mainly uses Rapsodo and a program called Trumedia.

Trumedia is a database that has film from every game in Division I. It allows the coaches to see every pitch from every pitcher from every team. This has allowed the coaching staff at Bonaventure to build more in-depth scouting reports.

Rapsodo is a high-tech camera that tracks pitches and captures ball-flight data.

Scouting has always been a big part of preparation for games, but using software like Trumedia has made it easier to get more in-depth.

“On the offensive side, we want to know the tendencies of a pitcher,” Salerno said, “We’re going to look at the film of that day’s opposing starter and see what type of shape his fastball and breaking ball have.”

Trumedia became available to Division I teams in 2022, meaning that college programs can now do more with it.

Before every game, the coaches give a presentation to the team about the upcoming opponent and the pitchers they might face. This meeting will include any tendencies of the pitcher as well as their pitch mixes.

The coaches aren’t the only one who have started to rely more on analytics, the players have to.

“I love the analytics and Trumedia before games because it helps me visualize what an at-bat against that pitcher will look like before I even step in the batter’s box,” said senior Morgan Little.

Before transferring to Bonaventure, Little spent two seasons at West Virginia Potomac State Junior College.

“They weren’t big on analytics at Potomac State; they used Rapsodo some, but overall, it wasn’t a huge factor,” he said.

Little has fallen in love with analytics and will intern with the team’s analytic department this spring.

“Being around analytics has made me want to get into it more because I see how useful it can be,” Little said.

Most of the analytics the team tracks are pitchers-based, according to AJ Rathbun, the staff's student assistant director of analytics. However, the Bonnies goal is to expand more into the hitting side and hope to get a Trackman system.

Alumni and donors have laid the foundation for the analytics department at Bonaventure.

“Alumni is a huge part of it, they help us out,” said AJ.

“There’s no doubt that the donors are the most important backbone of this program,” said head coach Rathbun. “They help us tremendously in getting tools that we need just to be able to catch up with other Division I schools.”

On top of using analytics, they have begun to use X, formerly known as Twitter, to market their players and help with recruiting.

The best example of this was junior pitcher Michael Salina. In a fall game vs. Penn State, Salina threw four pitches of 100 mph or higher and maxed out at 102 mph. The team made a post about Salina that received 156,000 views, according to AJ.

AJ uses the @BonasAnalytics account to fill in fans and alumni on stats ranging from quality at-bat leaders, ERA leaders, pitcher velocity and spin rates and scout day highlights. 

“That’s so good for marketing,” said AJ. “Our alumni, seeing that they’re going to be more invested, our fans are going to want to come see it.”

“It’s just putting the information out there,” said Rathbun. “We want to promote our players; We want to show the talent and skills they have because we want the best for each and every player.”