The Mariners this week named Lorena Martin Dir of High Performance, a "brand-new position that bespeaks an entirely new way of looking at injury prevention and rehabilitation within the organization," according to Larry Stone of the SEATTLE TIMES. Martin, who previously served as Lakers Dir of Sports Performance Analytics, is "responsible for all aspects of the Mariners’ physical and mental training approach." She will "oversee the medical, strength and conditioning, nutrition and mental skills departments, with a direct line to manager Scott Servais." Mariners Exec VP & GM/Baseball Operations Jerry Dipoto said, "Just because we’ve done it one way for 150 years doesn’t mean it’s the right way." He added, "I have spent ample time visiting with the Seahawks’ people, the Sounders’ people, with groups from English premier soccer and sports leaders around the world -- this is what’s happening in sports." Stone notes Martin will lead the Mariners toward Dipoto’s goal of "cutting time" on the DL by 25%. That is a "significant number for a team that lost 1,477 days to injuries last year," resulting in close to $43M in "dead money" (SEATTLE TIMES, 11/1). Dipoto said Martin "checks off every box we were going to hit." Dipoto: “It is very rare to hire one person with so many levels of expertise.” In Tacoma, Todd Milles wrote the Blue Jays a year ago became the first MLB club to "restructure its physical and mental training programs similarly to what other professional leagues" such as the NFL, NBA and MLS "have been doing." Dipoto said that he "not only has studied what the Blue Jays have done, but he noted the Mariners have taken bigger steps in how they’ve reorganized their programs" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 10/31).
