Nextiles, KineticPro Performance Launched Workload Management Sleeve

 Nextiles, the leader in smart fabric technology, today announces its first strategic baseball partnership with KineticPro Performance, a pitching-focused company founded by former professional pitcher Casey Mulholland.

Based in Tampa, FL, Mulholland founded KineticPro Performance after his playing career was cut short due to arm injuries. Motivated and inspired to train the next generation properly, Mulholland created a data-first approach to pitching and now with the Kinnect App his company KineticPro trains hundreds of pitchers, ranging from elite high school athletes to some of the game’s top MLB arms.

Leveraging its full-stack technology, Nextiles powers the KineticPro Sleeve with its patented sewing technology to deliver data analytics to the Kinnect App through the Nextiles software development kit (SDK). The KineticPro Sleeve leverages thread-based sensors strategically placed directly over the elbow to provide real-time biomechanical analysis of the arm. As the fabric deforms, Nextiles’ sensors measure the mechanical changes from bending, stretching, and twisting leading to elbow force and arm torque measurements. Nextiles technology also incorporates traditional inertial measurement units (IMUs) such as accelerometers and gyrometers, which provide acceleration and spatial awareness which are synthesized with the fabric-based sensors to form higher-level analytics for machine learning. Nextiles is the only company providing real-time force measurements through fabric combined with IMU data – ushering in a new age of analytics for baseball.

“Baseball is one of the most data-hungry sports, so this is a perfect launch vertical for our sensor technology,” said George Sun, CEO of Nextiles. “Furthermore, Casey is the perfect partner given his years of research, data-first approach, and personal playing experience as a former pitcher with a unique focus on workload management. Our threads measure stretch, pressure, and twist which provide mechanical and 3D motion analysis of the arm when these metrics are combined. There’s a real problem with pitchers getting injured as they train to optimize their performance, so we’re excited to leverage our modular technology platform with KineticPro Performance to provide new solutions for the baseball industry.”

Mulholland has a rich history of training athletes since launching his KineticPro Performance facility. What started as a local facility in Tampa, FL, Mulholland’s data forward approach, including through the Kinnect App, is enabling hundreds of pitchers to onboard onto the unique workload management program seamlessly.

“We eat, sleep and breathe workload management and have since the early years of launching KineticPro,” said Casey Mulholland, Founder and Lead Developer of KineticPro Performance. “The single most important aspect of our program is quantifying workload to help optimize pitching performance and mitigate the overall risk of injury. I’m familiar with most baseball technologies and have been blown away by the comfort of the compression sleeve and insights delivered by Nextiles’ fabric-based sensors. This product truly enhances a coach’s ability to manage individual player load daily. We’re excited to leverage the raw data outputs by the KP Sleeve to enhance our advanced workload management algorithms. Come see it for yourself at ABCA this year in Chicago.”

The KineticPro Sleeve, powered by Nextiles, will be showcased at the annual American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) Convention on January 6-9, in Chicago, IL. The sleeve and Kinnect App will be available for coaches and select teams to demo and a limited quantity will be available for pre-orders at the KineticPro booth (Booth #1141).

For more information on Nextiles, visit nextiles.tech. For more information on KineticPro Performance, visit: https://www.kineticprobaseball.com/