GPS units a 'piece of the puzzle' for Marlins' health

JUPITER, Fla. – As the adage goes, "The best ability is availability."

The Marlins haven’t been shy about investing in technology over the past two years, whether it be the acquisition of Trajekt machines, Senaptec strobe eyewear or the newly renovated Jupiter Academy.

Another addition debuted this spring: STATSports GPS tracking units for all position players placed inside a vest or patched onto a Dri-FIT shirt between the shoulder blades. This monitoring method isn’t new to baseball, but the Marlins want to utilize the information from it to better drive player development.

“GPS is just a piece of the puzzle to go along with everything else that we're all doing as a performance staff,” director of strength and conditioning Jeffrey Taylor said, “and that means medical, performance, nutrition, mental health and wellness.”

So what exactly is being measured and what are the benefits?

The Marlins are interested in sprint speed (ft/sec) and distance covered, both of which are tracked by Statcast during the regular season and select Spring Training sites. Just like pitch calling from the dugout, the organization tested the GPS usage on the system’s Minor Leaguers last season. It has now expanded to include everyone from the Dominican Republic Summer League teams to the big league club in 2026, totaling over 100 GPS units. Players can choose which type to wear based on comfort.

This season, the Marlins' Minor League affiliates will wear GPS units pregame and in-game. In Miami due to loanDepot park’s roof being closed the majority of the season, the big league club can rely on Hawkeye. The GPS units used on the road with the Major League team will help ensure that both starters and players coming off the bench continue to reach their target sprint intensities, which are typically emphasized during pregame activities. While the organizational goal is for players to reach high intensities during the game, that doesn’t always happen, making pregame exposure essential.

The objective is to keep players healthy year-round. By capturing the upper threshold of intensities, the Marlins gauge, for example, what’s one’s 90 or 80 percent output. With tracking, the Marlins can monitor certain activities and positional demands that increase a player’s workload and how they might affect his body. How can Miami preserve a player's energy for game time and make him less susceptible to injury?

“It provides us a lot of great information,” Taylor said. “It allows us to see workload management. It allows us to be able to prospectively plan better from series to series. It allows us to answer better questions with return to play, when guys are coming back from injury. And more importantly, it allows for our medical staff, our strength and conditioning staff, to have better conversations with the on-field baseball coaches.”

Every day, the Marlins pass out the GPS unit before workouts. The player will then wear it throughout the day; once he is done, the strength coach will collect the GPS and upload the data. A report is generated in the evening so coaches can review the information the following morning and touch base with the player.

While GPS tracking is a tool to drive better decision-making with objective data, it’s also important to listen to what a player is saying about his body. Connor Norby, who spent three separate stints on the injured list last season, was familiar with GPS units during his time with the Orioles.

“There's a lot of stuff that I feel like that we do that can help that,” Norby said. “That's why we wear these things, that's why we do the Nordics, where it tells your hamstring strength. That's kind of an indicator of if those numbers start going down, maybe something's wrong, or something could pop up from it. We have assessment testing all the time with trainers it feels like. There's a method to the madness. For me, obviously being on the field is priority No. 1, and this is part of it. So if it helps, I'll do it.”

GPS usage also emphasizes athleticism as an organizational philosophy. As one of the Majors' youngest rosters, Miami hopes to capitalize on it through solid baserunning and defense.

“You alluded to the speed, and we do [have it],” manager Clayton McCullough said. “It's a nice thing to have, whether that's how it can be weaponized for us on the bases, but then also defensively being able to have some speed and run is a big part of being a good defender.”

According to Taylor, historical data shows that when players get into professional baseball, their top sprint speeds show a steady decline. The Marlins are trying their best to stop Father Time and fire up some friendly competition.

As of Saturday, prospect Chase Jaworsky paced the organization with a 33.07 ft/sec sprint speed (30 ft/sec is considered elite). In case somebody didn’t know, the Marlins posted flyers around the academy for all to see the list of fastest Marlins.

“Everyone can get faster," Taylor said. "Not everyone can be fast."