Pitch Selection Research Articles

Sound effect of transmitting specific emotions in music performance based on the acoustic properties of conjugated materials.

In music performances, instruments made of traditional materials often cannot accurately express specific emotions through means such as tone, pitch, and timbre, and it is difficult to adjust the sound effects according to specific emotions. This article studies the impact of conjugated materials on the timbre, frequency response, etc. of musical instruments, hoping to achieve sound effects that better convey specific emotions. This article analyzes the acoustic properties of conjugated materials and applies them to musical performances. It is found that conjugated materials can provide a wider selection of tones, pitches and timbres, performers can choose appropriate tone, pitch, and timbre from conjugated materials to express emotions according to specific emotional needs, or adjust and transform the tone, pitch, and timbre for specific emotions, thereby arousing emotional resonance from the audience, so that specific emotions can be conveyed to the audience more accurately and powerfully. At the same time, this research also found that compared with an environment with poor sound insulation, the average sound absorption coefficient of metal materials in a room with good sound insulation increased by 6.5%, and the average sound absorption coefficient of conjugate materials increased by 25.4%, which shows that the increase in the average sound absorption coefficient of conjugate materials is much greater than that of metallic materials. The research shows that studying the sound effects of musical performances based on the acoustic properties of conjugated materials will help explore and develop more immersive and emotionally rich musical experiences.

Starting Pitch Selection is Precise in Exploratory Study of Collegiate Nonmusic Majors

Starting pitch selection—whether intentional or habitual or otherwise— has been theorized to vary according to multiple variables. The purpose of this study was to explore starting pitch selection in undergraduate nonmusic major singers by using four well known songs and nonsinging tasks. Participants were actively singing in a college choir and majoring in fields outside of music. Performances indicated very small deviations in the median starting pitch for each criterion song (100–200 cents). Data indicated discrimination in starting pitch selection between songs. Active singers may place songs in the middle portion of the vocal range compared with the tendency toward lower range in nonsingers in previous research. A history of voice lessons was significantly associated with a positive response to a follow-up questionnaire item “I chose an intentional range for my voice.”

Preventing Tommy John Surgery: The Identification of Trends in Pitch Selection, Velocity, and Spin Rate Before Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Major League Baseball Pitchers.

Background:Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction is a common surgery among Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers that results in a significant number of missed games. Little has been reported regarding game-by-game trends that can identify those on the verge of becoming injured.Purpose:To determine if there is a patterned change in MLB pitchers’ pitch selection, velocity, or spin rate in games leading up to Tommy John surgery that may predict subsequent UCL surgery.Study Design:Case series; Level of evidence, 4.Methods:A retrospective review of MLB pitchers who underwent primary UCL reconstruction between 2009 and 2019 was performed. Pitch characteristics were evaluated on a game-by-game basis for the 15 games leading up to surgery. A Mann-Kendall trend test was used to identify trends in pitch selection, velocity, and spin rate for multiple pitch types. A Kendall τb correlation coefficient was identified, with values closer to 1 or –1 signifying a stronger monotonic trend.Results:A total of 223 MLB pitchers underwent UCL reconstruction in the time period. In the 15 games leading up to surgery, decreases in pitch velocity for 4-seam fastballs (τb = –0.657; P < .001), 2-seam fastballs (τb = –0.429; P = .029), and sliders (τb = –0.524; P = .008) were significantly associated with game number closer to injury. There was a significant positive association in the spin rate for cutters (τb = 0.410; P = .038) and a significant negative association in spin rate for 4-seam fastballs over the course of these 15 games (τb = –0.581; P = .003). In addition, there was a significant positive association in the percentage of curveballs thrown (τb = 0.486; P = .013).Conclusion:The study results suggest that there is a patterned change in certain pitch statistics in MLB pitchers in the games leading up to Tommy John surgery. Although the absolute change from game to game may be small, it may be possible for these trends to be monitored before a player becomes injured, thus reducing the significant burden Tommy John surgery places on these athletes.

Higher-Order Musical Temporal Structure in Bird Song.

Bird songs often display musical acoustic features such as tonal pitch selection, rhythmicity, and melodic contouring. We investigated higher-order musical temporal structure in bird song using an experimental method called “music scrambling” with human subjects. Recorded songs from a phylogenetically diverse group of 20 avian taxa were split into constituent elements (“notes” or “syllables”) and recombined in original and random order. Human subjects were asked to evaluate which version sounded more “musical” on a per-species basis. Species identity and stimulus treatment were concealed from subjects, and stimulus presentation order was randomized within and between taxa. Two recordings of human music were included as a control for attentiveness. Participants varied in their assessments of individual species musicality, but overall they were significantly more likely to rate bird songs with original temporal sequence as more musical than those with randomized temporal sequence. We discuss alternative hypotheses for the origins of avian musicality, including honest signaling, perceptual bias, and arbitrary aesthetic coevolution.

Online fringe pitch selection for defocusing a binary square pattern projection phase-shifting method.

A three-dimensional (3D) shape measurement system using defocusing binary fringe projection can perform high-speed and flexible measurements. In this technology, determining the fringe pitch that matches the current projection's defocus amount is of great significance for an accurate measurement. In this paper, we propose an online binary fringe pitch selection framework. First, by analyzing the fringe images captured by the camera, the defocus amount of projection can be obtained. Next, based on analysis of the harmonic error and camera noise, we establish a mathematical model of the normalized phase error. The fringe pitch that minimizes this normalized phase error is then selected as the optimal fringe pitch for subsequent measurements, which can also lead to more accuracy and robust measurement results. Compared with current methods, our method does not require offline defocus-distance calibration. However, it can achieve the same effect as the offline calibration method. It is also more flexible and efficient. Our experiments validate the effectiveness and practicability of the proposed method.

Further application of the generalized matching law to multialternative sports contexts.

Cox et al. (2017) successfully applied the multialternative version of the generalized matching law (GML) to pitch selection among a sample of Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers. The purpose of the present study was to replicate and extend these findings by fitting the multialternative GML to pitch data among a sample of MLB pitchers with varying levels of success in the major leagues. We also examined how matching parameters changed as a function of novel antecedent game contexts such as the infield shift, game location, and number of times the pitcher faced the batters in the batting order. These results replicate the findings from Cox et al. and suggest the multialternative GML is a robust descriptor of pitch selection among MLB pitchers. Together, these findings further extend the generality of the multialternative GML to naturalistic, nonlaboratory environments.

A novel harmony search algorithm and its application to data clustering

This paper presents a variant of harmony search algorithm (HS), called best–worst-mean harmony search (BWM_HS). The main difference between the proposed algorithm and the canonical HS is that it employs a modified memory consideration procedure to utilize more efficiently the accumulated knowledge and experience in harmony memory (HM). To this aim, the random harmony selection scheme of this procedure is replaced with three novel pitch selection and production rules. These rules use the information of the current best and worst harmonies as well as the mean of all harmonies to guide the search process. To further utilize the valuable information of HM, two new harmonies are generated at each iteration where the better one will compete with the current worst harmony. The mean of all harmonies is always employed to produce a new harmony. On the other hand, each pitch of the second one is obtained by the rules that consider the information of the best and worst harmonies. These rules can present either explorative or exploitative search behaviors at different stages of search. Thus, a probabilistic self-adaptive selection scheme decides to choose between them to properly balance the exploration and exploitation abilities. The general performance of BWM_HS for solving optimization problems is evaluated against CEC 2017 benchmark functions and its results are compared with HS and eight state-of-the-art variants of HS. The comparison indicates that the performance of BWM_HS is better than or equal to the compared algorithms with respect to the accuracy, robustness, and convergence speed criteria. Moreover, the performance of BWM_HS in solving clustering problems is investigated by applying it for clustering several well-known benchmark datasets. The experimental results show that, in general, the BWM_HS outperforms other well-known algorithms in the literature and in particular, it significantly improves the statistical results for one dataset.

Optimum Selection of Variable Pitch for Chatter Suppression in Face Milling Operations.

Cutting capacity can be seriously limited in heavy duty face milling processes due to self-excited structural vibrations. Special geometry tools and, specifically, variable pitch milling tools have been extensively used in aeronautic applications with the purpose of removing these detrimental chatter vibrations, where high frequency chatter related to slender tools or thin walls limits productivity. However, the application of this technique in heavy duty face milling operations has not been thoroughly explored. In this paper, a method for the definition of the optimum angles between inserts is presented, based on the optimum pitch angle and the stabilizability diagrams. These diagrams are obtained through the brute force (BF) iterative method, which basically consists of an iterative maximization of the stability by using the semidiscretization method. From the observed results, hints for the selection of the optimum pitch pattern and the optimum values of the angles between inserts are presented. A practical application is implemented and the cutting performance when using an optimized variable pitch tool is assessed. It is concluded that with an optimum selection of the pitch, the material removal rate can be improved up to three times. Finally, the existence of two more different stability lobe families related to the saddle-node and flip type stability losses is demonstrated.

Effects of Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction on Pitch Selection in Major League Baseball Pitchers.

Background:Ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) injuries represent one of the most common impairments to the throwing arm of professional pitchers. Return to play and postoperative performance metrics have been studied extensively, but pitch selection before and after surgery has not been evaluated.Purpose/Hypothesis:This study aimed to characterize the effects of UCL reconstruction on pitch selection in Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers. We hypothesized that pitchers will throw fewer fastballs and a greater percentage of off-speed pitches after undergoing UCL reconstruction.Study Design:Retrospective cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.Methods:Using publicly available data, we evaluated MLB pitchers who underwent UCL reconstruction between 2003 and 2014. Pitching data were collected for the 2 seasons before UCL reconstruction as well as the first 2 seasons after reconstruction; the data consisted of the total number of pitches thrown and the percentage of fastballs, curveballs, changeups, and sliders. Repeated-measures analysis of variance was used with post hoc least significant difference pairwise t tests to evaluate for statistical significance at P < .05.Results:Overall, 87 pitchers (mean age, 28.2 ± 3.5 years) met all inclusion and exclusion criteria. There was a statistically significant difference in the total number of pitches thrown before and after surgery (P < .01) as well as in the percentage of fastballs thrown before and after surgery (P = .02). There was also a statistically significant increase in the use of curveballs between 1 and 2 years postoperatively (7.5% and 8.8%, respectively; P = .01). No other findings were statistically significant.Conclusion:Pitchers who underwent UCL reconstruction were shown to have a statistically significant decline in the percentage of fastballs thrown postoperatively as compared with before injury, with a compensatory trend toward an increased use of curveballs and sliders.

Investigation of phase change in a spiral-fin heat exchanger

• Melting process in a spiral finned tube is numerically studied. • Fin height influences total melting time of PCM. • The best selection of pitch and thickness improves the performance about 56%. • Tilted spiral fin unit performs more efficiently. In this study the effect of a spiral fin on the melting process of a phase change material in a heat exchanger is investigated. Water as the heat transfer fluid enters the tube at 348 K and the phase change material, RT50, the melting temperature of which is in the range of 318 K to 324 K, fills the space between the tube and the shell. This study focuses on the effect of geometrical parameters of the fin including the fin thickness and fin pitch on the melting process. In addition, the effect of changing the heat exchanger angle with respect to the horizontal is examined. Results indicate that fin shape is a critical parameter in every modification. In fact, for constant fin thickness, provided the fin pitch varies from 10 mm to 20 mm, due to 58% increase in fin height, the melting time reduces about 35%. Moreover, considering constant fin pitch, when the fin thickness increases from 1.5 mm to 2.5 mm, because of the 28% reduction of fin height, the melting time increases 59%. Also, an increase in the angle of the heat exchanger from zero to 90°, affects the melting process considerably.

Wednesday, September 26, 2018 7:35 AM–9:00 AM ePosters

BACKGROUND CONTEXT Major League Baseball (MLB) players are at significant risk for back injury, and back injury accounts for a significant proportion of time spent on the disabled list. MLB players that sustain back injuries are either managed conservatively or undergo operation with the goal of returning to their full level of pre-injury performance. Performance data of MLB players is a readily available method of objectively comparing performance outcomes following recovery from back inury. PURPOSE To better understand differences in performance outcomes and ability to return to play following back injury in MLB players. STUDY DESIGN/SETTING This is a retrospective cohort study comparing performance outcomes in MLB players with back injury who underwent conservative versus surgical managment. PATIENT SAMPLE Major League Baseball players that sustained a documented back injury between 2010 and 2016 as recorded in individual MLB team disabled lists. Inclusion criteria also required that players have statistical performance data available one year prior to the injury and following return to play. OUTCOME MEASURES Various outcome measures of in-game performance were measured using hitting and pitching metrics. Hitting performance was assessed using at bats, hits, batting average, home runs, RBIs, and OPS. Pitching performance was analyzed using win/loss ratio, ERA, saves, innings pitches, strike outs and WHIP. Fast ball velocity and pitch selection was also analyzed. Time on the disabled list and whether players returned to play were determined. METHODS Players who sustained back injury were identified using publically available disabled listings from MLB teams from 2011 to 2016. Conservative versus surgical treatment method was determined by using news media and team-affiliated reporting on injured players. Online statistical data on MLB players performance metrics and pitch selection was gathered for the players meeting inclusion criteria. Performance data was compared from one year prior to the injury to one year following return to play to assess change in performance. RESULTS A total of 187 players were identified who sustained back injury between 2010 and 2016. Of these, data was analyzed from 126 players who met inclusion criteria. A total of 100 and 26 players were treated with conservative and surgical management, respectively. The average age was 33. Surgeries included thoracic and lumbar fusion, and discectomy or microdiscectomy of the lumbar and cervical spine. Players undergoing surgery averaged significantly longer time on the disabled list (126days and 41days, respectively). Pitcher earned run average was increased more in the conservative treatment group than the surgical treatment group (increases of 1.15 and 0.4, respectively). Pitcher fastball velocity decreased and frequency of curveball and change-up pitch selection increased. Players undergoing operative management were less likely to return to play. CONCLUSIONS Major league baseball player performance declines following back injury regardless of the form of treatment. Players undergoing surgery miss more playing time and are less likely to return to play than those undergoing conservative therapy. However, when indicated, surgery may be beneficial in maintaining pitching performance as opposed to conservative management.

Release Location in a Risk Factor for Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Major League Baseball Pitchers

Objectives:Medial ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCLR) is a common procedure performed for Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers. The etiology of UCL injury is complex and not entirely understood. The purpose of this study was to use publically available pitch tracking technology (PITCHf/x) to compare the pre-injury throwing mechanics of MLB pitchers who require UCL reconstructive surgery with those of pitchers who have never undergone UCL reconstruction.Methods:Pitch tracking and demographic data on MLB pitchers who had undergone UCL reconstruction between the 2010 and 2017 seasons was gathered. Pitchers were excluded if they did not throw 100 total pitches in each of the three years prior to surgery. Furthermore, only pitch types that a given pitcher utilized more than 25 times in each of the three years prior to surgery were included for individual analysis. Pitch type, release location, and velocity were compared between the UCL reconstructive surgery cohort and a matched-control cohort.Results:The average pitch release location for pitchers who required UCL reconstruction was more lateral in the two years immediately preceding surgery than the control cohort (p=0.001 and p=0.023). Furthermore, a time-based comparison between the year immediately preceding surgery and two years prior showed a more lateral release immediately prior to surgery (p=0.036). Pitchers who required UCL reconstruction throw similar rates of fastballs as the control cohort and the average pitch velocity and fastball velocity were similar between the UCL group and the control group. The control pitchers displayed a significant decrease in average pitch velocity (p=0.005) and average fastball velocity (p=0.012) over the period of the study.Conclusion:Pitch tracking indicates pitch selection and pitch velocity are similar before that the average release point is more lateral preceding UCL reconstruction as compared to the control cohort suggesting that pitch release location might be an independent risk factor for UCL injury and reconstruction. On the other hand, pitch selection and pitch velocity are similar between these cohorts. Powerful technology including PITCHf/x allows for accurate monitoring of factors such as arm position and could potentially be used to identify pitchers at risk for UCL rupture.Figure 1Average pitch release location with error bars for standard eror of the mean. Location is measured as feet from the center of the mound, and left-handed pitchers are normalized to the right handed pitcher. UCL pitchers (dark grey) have a significantly more lateral and lower release locations in Year I (the year immediately prior to surgery) than did the control group (light grey). Furthrmore, the release location of UCL pitchers is more lateral in the Year I than in Year III.

Changes in pitching mechanics after ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction in major league baseball pitchers

Medial ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) reconstruction is a common procedure performed on Major League Baseball pitchers. Variations in pitching mechanics before and after UCL reconstructive surgery are not well understood. Publicly available pitch tracking data (PITCHf/x) were compared for all Major League Baseball pitchers who underwent UCL reconstruction between 2008 and 2013. Specific parameters analyzed were fastball percentage, release location, velocity, and movement of each pitch type. These data were compared before and after UCL reconstructive surgery and compared with a randomly selected control cohort. There were no statistically significant changes in pitch selection or pitch accuracy after UCL reconstruction, nor was there a decrease in pitch velocity. The average pitch release location for 4-seam and 2-seam fastballs, curveballs, and changeups is more medial after UCL reconstruction (P < .01). Four-seam fastballs and sliders showed decreased horizontal breaking movement after surgery (P < .05), whereas curveballs showed increased downward breaking movement after surgery (P < .05). Pitch selection, pitch velocity, and pitch accuracy do not significantly change after UCL reconstruction, nor do players who require UCL reconstruction have significantly different pitch selection, velocity, or accuracy than a randomly selected control cohort. Pitch release location is more medial after UCL reconstruction for all pitch types except sliders. Breaking movement of fastballs, sliders, and curveballs changes after UCL reconstruction.

Investigation of the characteristics of Automatic Exposure Control (AEC) of a Computed Tomography (CT) scanner by utilising cylindrical and anthropomorphic phantoms

One method to optimise the use of x-rays in CT and hence a reduction in patient dose is the application of automatic exposure control (AEC). This study measured the effective mAs, image noise and volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) as the result of changing the AEC index on a Siemens Somatom Definition 64 slices dual source CT scanner. The scans were performed on four phantoms of different geometries, namely the 16 and 32 cm cylindrical CTDI phantoms and two anthropomorphic phantoms, RANDO (20 cm effective diameter) and ATOM (19.8 cm effective diameter). Results showed that the effective mAs increased with increasing tube potential (kVp) and Quality Reference mAs (QRM), therefore increasing CTDIvol while reducing image noise. Meanwhile, no changes of radiation dose and image noise were observed when the pitch was increased. However, for the largest phantom (32 cm effective diameter), a constant effective mAs was found between 120 and 140 kVp. The same trend was also found with increasing QRM from 300 mAs to 400 mAs suggesting a certain limitation of the AEC has been reached. In conclusion, this study showed that AEC is affected by kVp and QRM but not by pitch selection. Further work is required to quantify the characteristics of the AEC system in relation to the mentioned parameters for better optimisation.

Application of the matching law to pitch selection in professional baseball.

This study applied the generalized matching equation (GME) to pitch selection in professional baseball. The GME was fitted to the relation between pitch selection and hitter outcomes for five professional baseball pitchers during the 2014 Major League Baseball season. The GME described pitch selection well. Pitch allocation varied across different game contexts such as inning, count, and number of outs in a manner consistent with the GME. Finally, within games, bias decreased for four of the five pitchers and the sensitivity parameter increased for three of the five pitchers. The results extend the generality of the GME to multialternative natural sporting contexts, and demonstrate the influence of context on behavior in natural environments.

Robust Harmonic Features for Classification-Based Pitch Estimation.

Pitch estimation in diverse naturalistic audio streams remains a challenge for speech processing and spoken language technology. In this study, we investigate the use of robust harmonic features for classification-based pitch estimation. The proposed pitch estimation algorithm is composed of two stages: pitch candidate generation and target pitch selection. Based on energy intensity and spectral envelope shape, five types of robust harmonic features are proposed to reflect pitch associated harmonic structure. A neural network is adopted for modeling the relationship between input harmonic features and output pitch salience for each specific pitch candidate. In the test stage, each pitch candidate is assessed with an output salience that indicates the potential as a true pitch value, based on its input feature vector processed through the neural network. Finally, according to the temporal continuity of pitch values, pitch contour tracking is performed using a hidden Markov model (HMM), and the Viterbi algorithm is used for HMM decoding. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm outperforms several state-of-the-art pitch estimation methods in terms of accuracy in both high and low levels of additive noise.

Musical Motif Discovery from Non-Musical Inspiration Sources

Many music composition algorithms attempt to compose music in a particular style. The resulting music is often impressive and indistinguishable from the style of the training data, but it tends to lack significant innovation. In an effort to increase innovation in the selection of pitches and note durations, we present a system that discovers musical motifs by coupling machine-learning techniques with an inspirational component. Unlike many generative models, the inspirational component allows the composition process to originate outside of what is learned from the training data. Candidate motifs are extracted from non-musical data such as audio, images, and sleep signals. Machine-learning algorithms select the motifs that most resemble the training data. We find that the inspirational motif discovery process is more efficient than random generation. We also extract motifs from real music scores, identify themes in the piece according to a theme database, and measure the probability of discovering thematic motifs verses non-thematic motifs. We examine the information content of the motifs by comparing the entropy of the discovered motifs, candidate motifs, and training data. We measure innovation by comparing the probability of the training data and the probability of the discovered motifs given the model.

Haptics in Music: The Effects of Vibrotactile Stimulus in Low Frequency Auditory Difference Detection Tasks.

We present an experiment that investigated the effect of vibrotactile stimulation in auditory pitch discrimination tasks. Extra-auditory information was expected to have some influence upon the frequency discrimination of auditory Just Noticeable Difference (JND) detection levels at 160 Hz. To measure this, the potential to correctly identified positive and negative frequency changes for two randomly divided groups was measured and then compared. The first group was given an audio only JND test and the second group was given the same test, but with additional vibrotactile stimulus delivered via a vibrating glove device. The results of the experiment suggest that in musical interactions involving the selection of specific pitches, or the detection of pitch variation, vibrotactile feedback may have some advantageous effect upon a musician's ability to perceive changes when presented in synchrony with auditory stimulus.

Ball Speed and Release Consistency Predict Pitching Success in Major League Baseball.

Whiteside, D, Martini, DN, Zernicke, RF, and Goulet, GC. Ball speed and release consistency predict pitching success in Major League Baseball. J Strength Cond Res XX(X): 000-000, 2015-This study aimed to quantify how ball flight kinematics (i.e., ball speed and movement), release location, and variations therein relate to pitching success in Major League Baseball (MLB). One hundred ninety starting MLB pitchers met the inclusion criteria for this study. Ball trajectory information was collected for 76,000 pitches and inserted into a forward stepwise multiple regression model, which examined how (a) pitch selection, (b) ball speed, (c) ball movement (horizontal and lateral), (d) release location (horizontal and lateral), (e) variation in pitch speed, (f) variation in ball movement, and (g) variation in release location related to pitching success (as measured by fielding independent pitching-FIP). Pitch speed, release location variability, variation in pitch speed, and horizontal release location were significant predictors of FIP and, collectively, accounted for 24% of the variance in FIP. These findings suggest that (a) maximizing ball speed, (b) refining a consistent spatial release location, and (c) using varied pitch speeds should be primary foci for the pitching coach. However, between-pitcher variations underline how training interventions should be administered at the individual level, with consideration given to the pitcher's injury history. Finally, despite offering significant predictors of success, these three factors explained only 22% of the variance in FIP and should not be considered the only, or preeminent, indicators of a pitcher's effectiveness. Evidently, traditional pitching metrics only partly account for a pitcher's effectiveness, and future research is necessary to uncover the remaining contributors to success.

Pitch Characteristics Before Ulnar Collateral Ligament Reconstruction in Major League Pitchers Compared With Age-Matched Controls.

Background:Ulnar collateral ligament reconstruction (UCLR) is commonly performed in Major League Baseball (MLB) pitchers, but little is known about the preoperative pitch type and velocity characteristics of pitchers who go on to undergo UCLR.Hypothesis:Pitchers who required UCLR have thrown a greater percentage of fastballs and have greater pitch velocities compared with age-matched controls in the season before injury.Study Design:Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3.Methods:MLB pitchers active during the 2002 to 2015 seasons were included. The UCLR group consisted of MLB pitchers who received UCLR between 2003 and 2015, utilizing the season before surgery (2002-2014) for analysis. The control group comprised age-matched controls of the same season. Players who pitched less than 20 innings in the season before surgery were excluded. Pitch types were recorded as percentage of total pitches thrown. Pitch velocities were recorded for each pitch type. Pitch type and pitch velocities during preoperative seasons for UCLR pitchers were compared with age-matched controls using univariate and multivariate models.Results:A total of 114 cases that went on to UCLR and 3780 controls were included in the study. Pitchers who went on to UCLR appear to have greater fastball, slider, curveball, changeup, and split-fingered fastball velocities; there were no significant differences in pitch selection between the 2 groups.Conclusion:In the season before surgery, MLB pitchers who underwent UCLR demonstrated greater fastball, slider, curveball, changeup, and split-fingered fastball velocities, with no significant difference in pitch type.