How KPI Uses the NewtForce mound to Help Pitchers Move Better: Q&A with Erik Wagle
- Zach Day
- Nov 19
- 5 min read
Intro
What Erik Wagle and his staff have built at KPI is something special. It’s a place where pitchers get honest coaching, real feedback, and the support they need to grow. The tech in the building helps, but the heart of the place is the coaching and everything runs through the athlete.
For almost two years, KPI has used the NewtForce instrumented mound as part of their daily training. Not as a shiny toy, but as a tool to help pitchers understand how they move and how that movement shows up in velocity, command, and durability.
Erik has helped hundreds of players move on to college baseball, sent almost twenty to pro ball, rebuilt pitching staffs at multiple schools, and taught more families how to navigate this sport than most people will ever meet. Now he’s pouring all that experience into KPI, giving pitchers a clear system built on simple communication and things that actually matter on the field.
This Q&A walks through how KPI uses real feedback to tighten up reps, connect feel with real, and give athletes more ownership of their development.
Q&A
Zach Day: You have coached every level of this game and helped hundreds of players move on to college or pro baseball. When you built KPI, what were you trying to create for pitchers and families that you felt was missing in development?
Erik Wagle
We wanted to create a unique facility that really placed the athlete at the center of the process instead of high-ego coaches or overbearing parents. In our region, athletes were being used as pawns that were just being played for other people's benefits. So we wanted that to be the guiding light and we chose to do this through a highly objective, data-driven training approach that took opinion out of the equation and using real information and results to push athletes through this process.
Zach Day: Kinetic Performance Institute has had the NewtForce mound in the building for almost two years now. How has it helped you connect what pitchers feel with what is actually happening in their delivery?
Erik Wagle
It really has changed everything we do on the pitcher side of our training on a day to day basis. Before NewtForce, we had a good system based on using throwing velocity as the base for how we approached training and programmed athletes. Now we use the data from the NewtForce mound on EVERY pitcher to form our programming and decisions for each pitcher. To take that a step further, we have tested all of our programming drills on the NewtForce, so we know with a high degree of certainty that what we program a pitcher based on the NewtForce reading actually works on that specific need. There's no more guessing.
Zach Day: Coaches talk all the time about giving athletes better reps. How has this kind of real feedback from the Newtforce mound helped you create better training sessions and more meaningful reps for your pitchers?
Erik Wagle
We can objectively show the pitchers where their force and energy leaks are and then cross that over to their entire program. They now have clarity and intent behind their plyo, med ball, water bag, and throwing drills. Everything they do can be done with purposeful reps, instead of just regular "reps."
Zach Day: One of the hardest parts of coaching is explaining the why. How has having clear information in front of an athlete made it easier for you and your staff to give actionable insights right when the athlete needs them?
Erik Wagle
This generation of athletes is highly visual, especially when looking at a screen. It's how they learn now. So we can provide them with what they are accustomed to and give them visual feedback not only on their NewtForce reading, but also on why we are programming what we are giving them.
Zach Day: You work with a wide range of athletes. Have you seen any patterns in the lower half or force application that actually changed the way you coach movement or design progressions?
Erik Wagle
It's not so much changed... we have used force plates at a high level on the strength floor since the early days of our business. It's more about having clarity and certainty on how we approach the lower half in pitchers. We had a choice to make before NewtForce... do we invest in biomechanics or do we invest in force production? We knew that force production is going to provide our athletes with the best opportunity to have on-field success, so we want all in on that.
Zach Day: Can you share a success story where improving the lower half had a direct impact on on-field performance?
Erik Wagle
We have a young man from the North Bay that came down for a NewtForce assessment last year. He was a predominant basketball player and definitely looked like one... tall, lanky, spring, and largely untrained. He lived 2+ hours away from us, so we was not going to be able to do regular training with us. We prescribed him a 12-week med ball and water bag training protocol based on his NewtForce assessment. He had a 6 mph jump on his FB during this time and then went out and had a really strong Summer, garnering multiple Power 4 scholarship offers. He ended up committing to his dream school and will get a great degree there as well.
Zach Day: If a pitcher wants a place to grow, move better, and take ownership of their development, what makes KPI the right fit?
Erik Wagle
We really are a true one-stop-shop for every pitcher. We are known for our tech, but we really have an incredible athlete-centered approach and a caring, nurturing environment that is fluent in moving pitchers to the next level. On the training floor, we have completely objectified the process with our technology and systems and we can quantify every aspect of this process for high level arms and ensure our pitchers are going the right direction. Off the floor we have an unmatched approach to advising and helping athletes through the recruiting and advisor/agency process. When a high level pitcher walks in our door the first time they have absolutely everything they need in one place and in one system. That's why they keep showing up and they stay with us for so long.
Why KPI’s Model Works
At KPI, nothing is done just to check a box. The staff wants pitchers to understand how they move and how that movement ties into performance. The NewtForce mound is one part of that system. It gives clarity. It helps pitchers see what’s usually invisible. It tightens up the feedback loop so the athlete can adjust right away.
Better reps.
Cleaner communication.
Less guessing.
More progress.
When you blend that with coaches who genuinely care about the athlete, you get a place pitchers trust. And that trust is why families across California keep showing up.
About KPI
Kinetic Performance Institute is located in Morgan Hill, California
Learn more at kpimh.com