What are common pieces of Baseball Technology?

The creation of Baseball Technology has led to vast amounts of new information, which has provided coaches, players, and industry professionals with more data than ever before.

In the past, baseball was limited to stats from the box score, like ERA, or developed through calculations, such as WAR. Now, we’re able to record information that we couldn’t measure before.

Here are some of the most common pieces of technology that are currently used in the game today:

Trackman

Trackman is a ball-tracking radar system that was originally invented for golf before it was used for baseball. From 2015 to 2019, they had a partnership with MLB to be the in-game data provider for every MLB game. Trackman captures many data points between both hitters and pitchers, such as: exit velocity, launch angle, spin rate, and spin axis. Trackman stadium units can be found built into stadiums behind home plate, or as a Mobile unit that is utilized during practices and bullpens.

Hawkeye

Hawkeye is a state-of-the-art camera system and has replaced Trackman as MLB’s new official provider for in-game data services in all 30 MLB stadiums as of the 2020 season. It tracks hundreds of data points and the technology is revolutionizing the data we capture in-game. Hawkeye’s camera-based technology provides more accurate and newer metrics that have built upon what MLB has had in the past. One of the unique features of Hawkeye is its ability to track everyone on the field from players to umpires to coaches constantly throughout the game and gather data points on all of these individuals.

Rapsodo 

Rapsodo is a ball-tracking technology unit that combines a camera integrated with a computer system that gives us a variety of metrics. They offer two separate products: Rapsodo Hitting and Pitching. The hitting unit can provide you with information on exit velo and launch angle, while the pitching unit will calculate data such as velocity, spin axis, and movement. It’s not as advanced as Trackman or Hawkeye, but it’s able to provide valuable amounts of ball flight data.

Blast Motion

Blast Motion is a sensor you put on the knob of the bat and provides you with basic swing metrics such as exit velo or swing speed. It’s affordable and perfect for an individual hitter or collecting information on a team.

KVest

KVest is a wearable sensor system that tracks body movements of a hitter. It measures force generated and timing between different aspects of your swing.

High-Speed Cameras

A high-speed camera is a camera that can record past 1000+ frames per second and shoot in super slow motion. It gives you the ability to see movement frame by frame. This can be used for hitters and pitchers to see things that can’t be seen by the naked eye.

Summary

This is a brief overview of baseball technology you may run into within the industry. While we can’t name all of them, these are a few that are the most frequently used. In our player development track, you’ll find more in-depth videos on the application and metrics of each of these technologies.