Indians Pitcher Sports 3D-Printed Spikes

Baseball season last year ended on a number of “firsts,” particularly given the long championship droughts experienced by World Series opponents the Chicago Cubs and Cleveland Indians.

It will be a long time before we know if the Indians will make a return appearance to the championship game, but they’ve already logged another first this year – pitcher Corey Kluber became the first major league baseball player to don a 3D-printed plate in his spikes during the season opener against the Texas Rangers.

The plate was created by New Balance, which has been tinkering for a while on a design that would be specific to the mechanics of pitching. The company approached Kluber last year about the concept.

The company studied Kluber’s pitching motion and how it exerted force on his feet using biomechanical data collection. They then constructed a wall on the outside of his right cleat to keep his foot from twisting, along with a curved wall on the left cleat. They also rotated studs on his midfoot and heel to prevent slipping.

“We really concentrated on getting the spikes aligned in a way that when he lands with that front foot, it’s not going to move at all. Again, that’s consistency and movement for him, knowing that every time he’s going to pitch, he’ll have the same exact experience,” Bryan Gothie, manager of the cleated innovation division at New Balance, told Sports Illustrated.

After some design tweaks and testing during spring training, the 3D printed plates were added to the spikes for the regular season.

Kluber was quoted as attributing more stability, more traction, and a better feel for where his body is to the 3D printed plates.

New Balance released its first 3D-printed running shoes last year.

Source: Sports Illustrated