John DeRouin joined Arizona Baseball in 2023 and immediately began making his mark. After just one season as Director of Player Development, he was promoted to Director of Pitching Performance and Strategy—a move that reflects the impact he’s had on the Wildcats' pitching staff. Under his guidance, Arizona’s pitchers made major improvements in 2024, including reducing their ERA by more than a run and a half, issuing the fewest walks in Division I, and finishing second in the Pac-12 for team ERA.
What makes John stand out is how he connects technology with practical coaching strategies. Tools like the Newtforce Mound have become central to Arizona’s program, helping John and his staff uncover insights that weren’t clear before. By combining this data with physical assessments and individualized plans, he’s helped his pitchers not just improve, but understand how they’re improving. That approach has led to tangible results on the field, from velocity gains to national recognition for his players.
In this Q&A, John dives into the role the Newtforce Mound plays in his program, shares some of his favorite success stories, and even talks about who he’d love to coach if he could pick any pitcher from the past.
John DeRouin Shares Newtforce Mound Insights: Q&A with Arizona's Pitching Performance Director
Zach Day: Since getting the Newtforce Mound, what kinds of insights has it provided that weren’t as clear before?
John DeRouin: The Newtforce mound has opened up new developmental doors as we've now had the ability to objectively evaluate how each of our pitchers interacts with the ground. This has provided us a clearer path forward in programming strategies centered around their unique needs. Tying in our physical assessment, which provides a robust understanding of one's physical structure, with data collection in the context of throwing, we can continue to push the envelope in formulating the most impactful structure for each individual. The goal is to leave no stone unturned in our decision-making process, and the Newtforce mound has afforded us the ability to make better developmental decisions.
Zach Day: Can you share a success story where you’ve seen a pitcher really take off by using the mound to improve their lower half?
John DeRouin: We had a pitcher transfer in this fall who came in averaging ~88 mph, topping at 91. He has a really unique arsenal, and his lowest hanging fruit was undoubtedly aiming to improve output. The Newtforce mound gave us valuable insight into some clear lower-half deficiencies that were influencing his output. He would struggle with shifting his center of mass forward and get stuck in his loading phase. His Z curve would plateau at its peak, and his Y curve had a slower and wider build to its peak. This was further evident by a low Accel Impulse Score (0.27 sec), low Player Velo (5.84 mph), and low Y Back Score (0.71 lb/lb). This gave us some clear KPIs to work toward improving. Through targeted constraints, we were able to chip away at making these movement quality enhancements. In his reevaluation, we saw improvements across the board. Accel Impulse went up to 0.30 sec, Player Velo to 6.52 mph, and Y Back Score to 0.88 lb/lb. The result was his average velocity jumping to 90 mph and topping at 93. This shows the impact of the mound in giving you a clear starting point to devise an impactful path forward to elicit the desired changes.
Zach Day: On a lighter note, if you could coach any pitcher, past or present, who would it be and why?
John DeRouin: This one is tough because there are so many current and past greats that I would love to be around, but I'd have to go with Nolan Ryan. As you look back on the history of our game and pitching development specifically, Nolan Ryan and Tom House combined were almost the godfathers of how we view pitching development today. Both were thinking years ahead of their time in terms of leveraging biomechanics, deploying unique lifting and throwing strategies, etc. Even prior to Nolan being with the Rangers, there were changes he made to his delivery with the Angels that set him down the path of arguably being the greatest of all time. For me, he would've been a cool guy to coach given all the unique things he could do physically or just be a fly on the wall in some of those impactful conversations that took place throughout his career.
Zach Day: How has the Newtforce Mound changed the way you approach training pitchers since bringing it into your program?
John DeRouin: I wouldn't necessarily say the Newtforce mound has specifically changed the way I approach training pitchers, but rather it has provided clearer insight, making the path forward for each much clearer. The mound gives us so much valuable information that assists in forming each individual's delivery fingerprint. Data interpretation is undoubtedly important, but the formulation of an impactful plan to either maintain strengths or improve upon deficiencies is where the real value lies. This is where the Newtforce mound is a game changer because it now allows me to be able to leverage the right tools in the toolbox much quicker than before.
Zach Day: What’s been the biggest “aha” moment you’ve seen from a pitcher using the Newtforce Mound?
John DeRouin: An extremely important part of coaching is creating an environment that gives our players autonomy. As coaches, our job is to set effective guardrails for our players while they ultimately drive the bus. Creating individual autonomy starts with having effective feedback loops and building an environment where impactful conversations can occur. The mound aids in this as it allows us to educate each player on an individual level. The pitch-to-pitch feedback gives our players the ability to couple the specifics of what they're aiming to work on with real-time information. This expedites the learning process, allows them to decipher "feel" vs. "real," and allows us as coaches to continue to develop the most impactful strategies for long-term adaptation.
Zach Day: What’s your go-to post-game meal after a big win?
John DeRouin: We have a local Chipotle-like Mexican place here in Tucson that will always make a big win feel better when it's our post-game meal.
Zach Day: Has the Newtforce Mound helped your pitchers become more aware of how they use their lower half? Any standout moments?
John DeRouin: We live in a world that provides us so much instantaneous feedback. Training and development in the world of baseball is no different. Leveraging objective information affords us the ability to give our players their own North Stars across different domains. The mound only adds to our developmental culture, as we can not only use it as an evaluation tool but, most importantly, a training tool. Being able to leverage the mound in a training setting aids tremendously in creating an effective stimulus due to the consistency in objective feedback. This creates some more excitement around training for our guys and really helps in driving progress toward each of their individual goals.
Wrapping Up
John’s ability to connect the dots between advanced data and actionable coaching is what makes him such a valuable asset to Arizona Baseball. The Newtforce Mound has become a critical piece of his program, helping pitchers understand their mechanics, accelerate their development, and achieve results they didn’t think were possible.
With John at the helm of Arizona’s pitching performance, the future is bright for the Wildcats. We’re looking forward to seeing what’s next as he continues to find new ways to help his pitchers succeed.
Comments