If baseball is a numbers game, who better to have on your team than a true data geek? For the first time in team history, the Seattle Mariners have hired a Director of High Performance. For Lorena Martin, it’s the next step in a life and career rooted in sports and understanding the physical and mental connections necessary to perform at an elite level. Martin, our latest Geek of the Week, joined the Mariners this offseason after spending a year as the Director of Sports Performance Analytics with the Los Angeles Lakers. She will be in charge of all aspects of… Read More
If the Seattle Mariners “left it all on the field” at the end of the 2017 baseball season they won’t be able to get it back next year, as the playing surface is being completely replaced at Safeco Field. The offseason project is the first replacement of the ballpark’s original surface, installed in the spring of 1999. New images from the team on Instagram show the process has begun to remove the grass in the outfield. The Mariners said in a news release that grass in the infield and foul territory was replaced in 2012, but with the exception of patches… Read More
Seattle Mariners GM Jerry Dipoto has been around baseball for a lot of years, as a player and as an executive. He recognizes, that despite all the tech and data available today, that the game has remained largely unchanged for more than 140 years. But that doesn’t stop Dipoto and the Mariners from trying to implement new ways and new technologies to improve play. He discussed it all at Thursday’s GeekWire Sports Tech Summit. Whether it’s analysis of the spin rate on a pitched ball or the launch angle of a batter’s swing — using devices such as Trackman, Rapsodo… Read More
Safeco Field, the name of the home ballpark for your Seattle Mariners, will be getting a new name after the 2018 season, the team and Safeco Insurance announced on Tuesday morning. The Seattle Times reported that the 20-year naming rights agreement between the two parties will not be renewed and the stadium will take on a new name. “Safeco Insurance has been a great partner of the Mariners dating back to the earliest days of the franchise, including the ballpark naming rights for the last 20 years,” Mariners president Kevin Mather said in a statement, as reported by the Times.… Read More
Fans of the Seattle Mariners might have a lot of questions about why their team is off to a slow start this season. Amazon’s Alexa probably doesn’t have the answers, but the voice-activated artificial intelligence can perform other tasks now at Safeco Field. Guests in 59 private suites at the Mariners home ballpark now have access to Amazon Echo devices enabled with an Alexa skill geared toward helping users further enjoy being out at the old ballgame. With the voice prompt “Alexa, ask the Mariners to …,” users are able to call for their suite attendant and order food and drinks… Read More
