Students in Lower Macungie Middle School math classes were taught by one of their own Jan. 14. A 2018 graduate of Emmaus High School and former Lower Macungie Middle School student, Rylan Domingues returned home to share how math plays a role in his daily work as a pitching analyst with the Philadelphia Phillies.

Domingues shared his 20-minute presentation, “From Math Class to Major League Baseball” with seven different groups, each with approximately 100 math students in grades 6, 7 and 8 throughout the day. Librarian Alice Boulrice arranged the homecoming after learning her former sixth grade student was now in this position.

“It is an honor to share with you today,” Domingues said.

Domingues opened his presentation by sharing his story about attending Wescosville Elementary School, Lower Macungie Middle School, Emmaus High School and St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He had a double major in business analytics and finance.

Domingues appreciated his first job after college working for Tread Athletics in North Carolina, which is a leading baseball player development company. He was hired by the Philadelphia Phillies in 2023. Part of his presentation included sharing his elementary report card which noted “skills for successful learners.” With 5 as the highest score, Domingues chuckled that most of his numbers included 3s; the 2s were in practicing self control.

He was most proud of an art award he received at LMMS as an eighth grade student. The award was given to only one female and one male student in eighth grade. He said he did not earn this award because he was “fantastic at art. I spent a lot of time in the art room after school because I was so slow (at completing the art projects).” He appreciated the teachers who recognized the time and dedication he put into the art class and being recognized for his effort.

Domingues spoke proudly about being a pitcher for the Emmaus High School varsity baseball team. He asked the students how many games they thought he played in the four years of being on the team. Numbers included 0, 1, 5 and 20. He admitted he played in one game his entire baseball career. “I was a pitcher, but I was not very good,” Domingues admitted.

While he did not play baseball at the collegiate level, he felt fortunate to work with a Division 1 baseball team at Saint Joseph’s University. He even shared his video that went viral when he first saw a 101 mph pitch up close. Pitchers who can throw 100+ mph are not common. At this moment he expected to see a pitcher warming up with reasonable pitches. However, the 101 mph pitch led to his jaw-dropping reaction caught on camera and went viral.

He encouraged students that even though they might not be the best at something, they could still utilize their skills and passion to pursue a career they enjoy.

Domingues told the middle school students the job he currently has did not even exist five to six years ago. As a result of improvement in technology, this role with sports teams evolved.

Domingues shared a notable quote he wrote as a freshman at Emmaus High School when his teacher tried to encourage him to take a class in coding. “I will never need to code,” he recalled. “Today,” he said, “I code nearly every day and it is fundamental to my career.”

Domingues’ official role is pitching analyst with the Philadelphia Phillies. He evaluates and works with pitchers to help make them perform better. He described the job as being “half coach and half nerd.”

The job requires him to travel with the minor league teams and sometimes he gets to travel with the major league teams.

He shared pictures of Phillies players and engaged the students by involving them in the discussion about what makes a good pitch.

Zach Wheeler was one of the players the students discussed with Domingues; he noted the use of a (Sony) Hawk-eye camera that captures the speed and movement of the pitches as well as joint positions in the human body when a pitch is thrown.

“If you can imagine it, you can view it,” Domingues reported about using this type of equipment for precise ball tracking.

Being away from middle school for over a decade did not stop Domingues from remembering what it was like to be a middle school student. His use of humor and asking the students questions to keep them engaged in the presentation were evident.

Domingues used a variety of informative slides, pictures, graphs and videos to keep the attention of the middle schoolers. He quizzed them on the x and y axes as well as interpreting model graphs of data.

While he said he spends more time on Instagram and not TikTok, he used TikTok as an example to draw the attention of the younger students. TikTok uses a predictive model just like he uses in his position as an analyst.

“Using past data, applying the data to a model and making predictions is used by numerous search engines, companies and programs including the Phillies. The past data utilizes skipped videos, videos a person views in their entirety, replays, comments, likes, hashtags and audio.

“Do you think this model is good at what it does?” Domingues asked the students. “Just check your screen time,” he said.

Domingues transitioned to helping students to understand how math is used to make baseball players better as well as for scouting baseball players, determining how often a player should throw a particular pitch, helping coaches know what to teach players and helping a player better understand what is efficient or not. He used a short clip of the recognizable Babe Ruth showing how to throw a curve ball.

Domingues differentiated between the 90 mph slider and the slower 72 mph curve ball.

“A curve ball uses much more movement so this is why it moves slower than the slider that sacrifices movement for velocity,” he explained. He demonstrated how he uses statistical data on pitchers’ swinging strike rates and miss distances while noting “the average missed distance for an MLB player is one foot.”

He used Andrew Baker as an example. Baker is a pitcher who can throw 100+ mph but he needs to learn to control breaking the ball and throw at 92 mph to avoid walking too many players. Baker needed to lower his miss distance while increasing his swinging strike rate and this is what Domingues helps players to understand and improve.

He used the example of an 84 mph breaking ball with an average miss distance of 14 inches and an 18% swinging strike rate versus a 92 mph smaller breaking ball with an improved average miss distance of 12 inches and an improved swinging strike rate of 22%. Math can make baseball players better.

Domingues provided an informative and engaging presentation to the students while connecting the relevance of math in his job. But what if you do not like math but you still enjoy sports?

Domingues shared other avenues in which former Emmaus High School graduates are now employed. Shaniece Jackson (Class of 2012) works as an athletic trainer with the Philadelphia Eagles. Tyler Ward (Class of 2018) is employed by the New York Mets as their content creator. Addie Rivera (Class of 2018) is a Division 1 assistant volleyball coach for University of Delaware and Wyatt Henseler (Class of 2020) is a professional baseball player with a political science degree from an Ivy League school.

Domingues guided the students with “what you are learning now, either explicitly skill-wise or implicitly critical thinking-wise is foundational to a dream career you may or may not even be aware of exists yet.” He encouraged students about using math or finding other avenues if math is “not your thing.”

Domingues said he had “no idea what I wanted to do when I was your age.” He extended gratitude for his first position with Tread Athletics which opened the door for him to return closer to his roots with the Phillies in Philadelphia, where he currently resides.

A 15-minute question and answer session followed. Students were interested in the teachers and teams Domingues was a part of at his schools and in his community.

He started playing baseball when he was 5 years old and played for Lower Macungie and Emmaus Youth Association. His fastest pitch was 75 mph and he admitted some of the middle school players could probably beat his pitch.

The students inquired about his salary. According to Zip Recruiter, the median average salary for a pitching analyst is $82,000-$200,000. However, top-tier teams, like the Phillies could offer higher compensation.

“I watch a baseball game everyday. It is not always the Phillies, though. It could be minor league games. I love the Phillies and I am happy to be a part of their team,” Domingues said.

The students and staff appreciated Domingues sharing his career journey and the various opportunities with sports beyond being an athlete. The daylong presentations helped guide these middle school students through career exploration and real-world math applications.

Domingues utilized his passion for baseball and established a career for himself working for an organization he loves. Students were inspired to learn about his journey and it helped them to begin thinking about their own.