I have seen many technological changes in my lifetime. As a youth, my telephone was on the kitchen wall and was part of a party line. I couldn’t have imagined back then that a day was coming when I would carry my phone with me everywhere I went, including my car, and that I would not only be able to take pictures with my phone, I would also be able to search for wide range of information and instantly be able to access that information, among many other things a smartphone now allows you to do. My television (black and white of course) had only 7 channels and the stations would regularly sign off at midnight. I never once thought that we would have 100s of channels available and that I would be able to watch TV on my phone or computer.
Baseball has been no different. When I was a youth, you had a bat, ball, a
mitt and you played. Simple as
that. If you wanted to learn, you
primarily did that on your own. Most of
the learning came from watching others.
There were times that a coach might tell you how to hold a fastball or
how to hold a curve, etc., but that was about it, and it didn’t happen
often. I can remember seeing a picture
of Burt Hooten holding his knuckle curve.
The thought of throwing a knuckle curve sounded so cool, so I copied his
grip. That was how I threw my curveball
until I stopped throwing. In
organized ball, you took infield before the game, the pitcher would warm-up on
the sidelines(mostly on his own) and then you went out and played. Moreover, it was rare for anyone to be
concerned about how many pitches you had thrown. I pitched until my arm virtually fell
off. I would hold it on with duct tape
(not really) and go back out and throw 200 pitches the following day. That may have been “old school”, but I’m here
to tell you, looking back, I wish that I had some of the technological advances
that exist today. I might have actually
been semi-good (probably not). As Bob
Dylan sang: “The times, they are a-changing.”
Certainly, I could not have envisioned how the game of baseball would change to what it has become today. If you watch a game on television today, you cannot go an inning without seeing a video replay. You’ll hear the term Statcast. You are told the speed of every pitch thrown. Most TV Stations use some form of PitchTrax to follow the flight of the pitch and tell you if it was a strike or not. Since umpires are not privy to the use of this technology during the games and their miscalls are much more evident, it has led to a discussion of using robot umpires. Bats, balls, and gloves are significantly different than they used to be. As are catcher’s helmets. Much like in society, the winds of change came slowly in baseball, but now are increasing at exponential rates. Earl Weaver introduced the radar gun to the big leagues in 1972. Tony Gwynn popularized the use of videotape in the ’80s. That doesn’t seem all that long ago for some of us. The teaching process has also improved as video technology and stat tracking and analytics have become more readily available. Now we hear more and more about spin rates, launch angle, etc. The game has changed from youth ball to the major leagues. In youth ball, there is a proliferation of travel ball teams (the pay to play programs) and scout teams. Moreover, there is significantly more information available to these programs than ever before. The changes in television, the advent of social media and the internet, publications like Baseball America, Fangraphs, Baseball Prospectus, have made information on players and teams readily accessible to the average fan. The Little League World Series gets constant television coverage on ESPN. As a result, the average fan will know who Bryce Harper is while he is still in high school.
Player development too has evolved and transitioned. Technology is changing how players learn, how coaches coach, how managers manage, how front offices evaluate and how teams compete. There is an ongoing battle with the analytical side of baseball (the nerds) and the “old school” way of thinking. What is important is that these two don’t have to be at odds with one another. The Dodgers are among baseball’s leaders in the use of technology. According to one industry source, they spend about $20 million annually on research and development — hardware, software, salaries. That figure does not include a separate technology incubator business they have operated since 2015. Their Global Sports Venture Studio helps develop emerging technology companies in all sports, not just baseball. It is aimed at providing a “last‑mile” component of technology development to allow startups to move from theoretical ideas to real‑world products.
As with all things I seem to undertake, my research into player development has become something much more than what I envisioned when I started. I had thought maybe 2 or 3 posts would cover it, but I was wrong. It’s much more involved, and to keep my posts under 30-40 pages, I have to break it up into bite-size pieces. So, today I’m going to look at some of the technology used to help develop players.
When the Astros recently posted an opening for a minor league hitting coach job, the requirements resembled the standards for a Ph.D. application: “analyze hitter performance deficiencies using tools, reports, and technology . . . strong computer skills and proficient in Microsoft Office . . . technical degree is a plus . . . SQL and R coding skills is a plus.” Raise your hand if you know what SQL and R coding skills are. Charlie Lau would turn over in his grave reading this.
Here are some (certainly not all) of the things being used by teams today:
1. Edgertronic – – The Edgertronic SC1 is a high‑speed video camera capable of capturing up to 22,000 frames per second. Teams use the slow‑motion visuals to see how a pitcher’s grip changes as he releases a ball, or how subtle adjustments in finger position affect ball rotation. Clubs and coaches use the Edgertronic cameras to study both pitching and hitting mechanics, although pitchers have been more open about their utility. Edgertronic is currently used by most MLB teams.
2. Rapsodo – – – Situated on the ground between the mound and home plate, Rapsodo’s units combine radar with a camera to generate data on ball speed, velocity, and spin for pitchers and velocity, spin, launch angle, and projected hit outcome for batters. Whereas other technologies focus on body mechanics, Edgertronic and Rapsodo focus on the ball. Every MLB team currently uses Rapsodo, as do more than 100 individual players, 500 colleges, and 400 baseball academies.
3. K-Vest – places sensors on a batter’s upper torso, pelvis, and lead arm and hand to capture motion for a detailed analysis of swing efficiency. Each sensor gathers 200 data points per second, which are transmitted to a laptop and turned into a 3D rendering of swing mechanics. The system can be customized to focus on such things as pelvis rotation or torso bend. K‑Vest is currently used by 21 MLB teams, plus hitting academies and individual players.
4. Stalker Pro II – this is a radar gun that provides spin rate along with peak and across‑the‑plate velocity, all in a single window. This is a boon for scouts as they can better evaluate younger players in a manner that helps the nerds analyze the information.
5. Swingtracker – a sensor attached to the knob of a bat that transmits data about angles, planes, and velocity to produce a 3D model of a player’s swing.
6. KinaTrax – The KinaTrax system consists of 8 to 16 high‑speed synchronized video cameras installed along the first‑ and third‑base lines that capture every movement of the pitcher and hitter. The system then uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide 3D rotational and positional data for every joint in their bodies. It measures a swing and the body through three planes of motion—forward and backward, side to side and rotational—providing data on the sequence and speed of the four major parts of the kinematic chain of hitting (pelvis, torso, upper arm, hands), among other metrics.
7. Driveline – — which is a privately owned company that touts itself as the world’s best data-driven player development program.
You read some of this and you think to yourself “boy, this is crazy!” Let me give you a few examples of how these measuring devices help in a practical way.
Take Justin Verlander for example. Prior to his trade to the Astros he was having a mediocre year at best. Immediately after the trade, the Astros had Verlander throw with the Edgertronic and Rapsodo, tools he never had with the Tigers. The camera revealed that Verlander was “showing” his slider to hitters too early by having it pop up out of his hand. He changed his hand position to stay behind the ball longer, creating the desired effect of having his slider look like a fastball as it left his hand. The Rapsodo device revealed that the metrics on his two‑seam fastball—spin, break, and path—was so poor that it recommended that Verlander stop throwing the pitch. Verlander immediately ditched the two‑seamer, which is designed to favor movement over pure velocity. In 48 starts with Houston, not including the postseason, Verlander is 39-15 with a 2.44 ERA. Not a bad improvement would you say?
While still with the Dodgers, then assistant hitting coach Luis Ortiz noticed Yasiel Puig was missing or topping fastballs and crushing breaking balls. Ortiz saw that Puig’s swing on fastballs appeared steeper, causing it to enter and exit the hitting zone too quickly, leaving him a smaller window to make solid contact. To better make his point, Ortiz affixed a motion capture device made by Diamond Kinetics swing tracker . . . to the knob of his bat and had Puig swing at fastballs and breaking balls in the cage. The device produced images of his swing paths that allowed Puig to see what Ortiz had just told him. “He’s such a visual guy,” says Ortiz, now the Rangers hitting coach. “The visual makes more sense to him.”
If you went to spring training this year, you would find in the bullpen of a backfield, pitching prospects Dustin May and Tony Gonsolin throwing their bullpens. Also present was a tripod‑mounted high‑speed camera behind them and a wedge‑shaped radar tracking device on the ground in front of them. The Dodgers maintained four such technology‑equipped mounds in this bullpen alone and more at the minor league fields. Behind the mounds stood 13 operators, analysts, and coaches. Four analysts held tablets to immediately show pitchers the velocity, vertical break, horizontal break, spin rate, spin axis and path of any pitch—on‑the‑spot sequencing of a pitch genome. I would say that this technology has helped these young men become better at their craft, wouldn’t you?
These devices only take into consideration the “baseball” side of the equation. Teams also have players wear bio‑monitors, which measure and record all sorts of physical data. This wristband monitor tracks vital signs and physical duress during sleep, play, rest, and recovery. They can use this data to adjust workouts, pitching motions, running styles, and sleep cycles. In addition, much has been made this year about many of the Dodger players going dairy-free in order to stay healthier. The Dodgers were also innovators in serving only organic food in the locker rooms of all of their teams and at Camelback. I will deal with this subject in a later post.
These are also just some of the devices used by the Dodgers and others. But as with all things technology and science, it has its uses and its limitations. Technology, as of yet, does not measure what’s in a guy’s chest or what’s in between his ears. That said, it’s an added piece that can tip the scales in a teams favor. Furthermore, technology and analytics work hand in hand. Analytics confirm what you see with your eyes. It makes you realize statistically, that what you are seeing with your eyes is accurate. The job of the player development staff is then to use the technology and analysis at their disposal and communicate the information they provide in a way that the player not only understands but can also adapt to what science is telling him is actually happening. Communication and translation are key. I’ll look at that a little more in-depth next time.
DC’s 10th Inning
Sunday’s Scores:
Crap!
Ogden Raptors 8 – Idaho Falls Chukars (KC) 10
The Raptors fell behind 7-0 early, eventually fought back to 8-7 but couldn’t get over the hump.
Tulsa Drillers 3- Amarillo Sod Poodles (SD) 8
The Drillers went into the top of the 9th 3-1 on a Deter Downs RBI single and a 2-run home run.
They gave up 7 in the 9th including a grand slam and a 3-run shot.
Wong and Donovan Casey both extended their perfect postseason hitting streaks for Tulsa. They both got hits and finished the season by hitting safely in all ten playoff games for the Drillers.
“Just shock,” Tulsa manager Scott Hennessey said afterward. “You battle all year, get down to the ninth inning and feel good with Nolan Long going out there, and it just wasn’t his day. Yeah, we’re disappointed, but they battled and that’s just all we could do. We just didn’t get it done; we’re one inning short.”
So much for the KISS method. Had no idea things are this advanced. Thanks for the education.
M.T. not much of the info above stirred my gnomes… I’m sure you’ll be deluged with many queries as the day progresses…
M.T. – DC is there any chance Julio Urias will be given a starting spot in ST and will become his to win or lose???
I’m so used to blowouts by the Blue and these close ones are giving me heartburn…
Julio Uria will be a starter next year – He is in the rotation.
Well, no question that Justin Verlander was the best pitcher available at the trade/waiver deadline, a true game changer. His velocity had increased and other than a bad outing at Texas, where he gave up five runs over eight innings, his final 10 games with Detroit, including tossing a two hitter against the Dodgers, were pretty impressive. Maybe the tech helped him get even better in terms of hiding one particular pitch.
Yah, the Stalker is pretty cool, and so are the cell phones, which can break down pitching and hitting mechanics to an amazing level through slo-motion and frame by frame capabilities.
The question will eventually become, actually the discussion is already happening, when is it too much technology? When does tech cease to be a value and becomes a hinderance. Some players are becoming weary from too much data. Paralysis through analysis.
If all this stuff is really a difference maker, the team/organization with the most technology and data wins, right? I suspect most of this tech has more to do with a team making sure they’re not left behind. What if a team has it and is successful and we don’t. Ouch. Whether that made the difference is probably debatable since a lot of factors go into winning and success.
I was listening to a discussion about the Dodgers on MLB radio the other day. They were basically saying what the Dodgers were doing couldn’t be duplicated by most other teams. Start with financials, a smart baseball operations department, organizational depth, good scouting and great player development. A large portion of the roster is homegrown. They’ve basically done all this and still won, which is nearly impossible. What other team has been able to do it?
It’s more about organizational philosophy than anything else and the implementation of that philosophy.
The Astros, Dodgers and Cardinals seem to be far ahead of the field when it comes to the use of technology. Most other teams are trying to follow their example, but with limited degrees of success. That’s why teams are hiring front office personnel from these organizations.
There are those who are absolutely certain technology gives them another important tool in their arsenal. Walker Buehler, for example, is a believer in the technology having grown with it at Vanderbilt ( a college deeply invested in the technology movement). That said, he still relies on feel to know if he is right or not. The technology only confirms what he feels.
Verlander was not the best pitcher available at the 2017 trade deadline. Darvish was. Verlander had the better results after the trade was made, but Darvish was the best pitcher available. He just didn’t perform on the big stage. Perhaps because of the Astros use of technology to help them determine watch pitch he would throw in certain situations.
Sorry, we’ll just have to disagree on Darvish. In his final five starts before the trade deadline, Yu gave up 25 runs. Verlander gave up eight runs in his final five starts before the July trade deadline.
Darvish had two really bad outings that July. If you go back one more outing for Verlander he threw 3 innings and gave up 7 runs. Verlander at the end of July was 4.29 ERA. Darvish was 4.01 after just getting shelled his last outing. Let’s not forget the Astros front office passed on Verlander too. It was the owner who stepped in and made the move a month later after the players were pissed that the front office did nothing at the deadline. The Astros were not going to take on the astronomical contract of a pitcher who had struggled that year plus give up propsects. The Cubs passed too. On paper the Dodgers made the correct move. Darvish shit the bed in the World Series.
peterj, I respectfully disagree about the tight games at this point in the season and I hope the remaining teams on our schedule will throw their best pitchers against us like the Mets just did. I was always told that “to beat the best, you have to play the best”. The home field advantage thru the NL playoffs and the World Series is at stake and I think that it will be the difference maker in at least one series. I definitely want the hitters to face their aces and the defense to face the best hitters. I hope we stick with the six man rotation till the end of the season to keep our pitchers healthy.
When we were at ST last year, my son and I went to one of the back fields where Rick Honeycutt was working with Ross Stripling, trying to increase his velocity. After they were through throwing the catcher came over to us and I noticed wires all over his chest and arms so I asked him what that was about. He said that information was transmitted to a computer to show if he was catching the ball correctly. It told if he was late moving his hands and jabbing at the ball or he had his hand positioned correctly, etc. I don’t know the name of the device, but I would imagine that the devices mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg .
The extent of this new technology is remarkable. The data generated is mind boggling. All the data must, however, be analyzed by folks that know what they are looking at (or by the athlete who knows what he’s looking at).
I have a funny story about the infancy of technology. I was in spring training in the early 70’s (radar guns were becoming the rage). On one of the fields they set up a new contraption to analyze BP swings. A mat with sensors was placed in the box and they spend considerable time wiring up a wooden bat somehow that was supposed to provide data on stride length, weight distribution I suspect, and probably bat speed. Stuff like launch angle and exit velocity was’t even thought of in those days. So they spent all this time wiring up this “high tech” contraption. About my 3rd BP pitch, I completely shattered the bat. OOPS. There were some pretty pissed off “technicians” who got to start over. I never hit in it again……… or even saw it used anywhere else.
In the early 80’s, as a coach, I began using video with players, pitchers specifically to see stuff that is impossible to see in real time. I used an old camcorder on a tripod with players taking turns using the gear. I shared the video in individual sessions with my high school and legion pitchers. I also kept pitching charts and spray charts and any other chart I could think of to generate reports on the players that were shared in individual sessions and for game planning. I would spend 1 to 2 days a week at my desk crunching all this data. I can’t imagine the TIME I could have saved with the current apps and computer programs that would spit out far more thorough reports almost instantly. I could have kept pitching charts on an iPad in the dugout and had instant data. Wow would I have loved to have even a portion of today’s technology and the data that’s provided in a fraction of the time.
Great post MT. Hard to believe how technology has influenced baseball in just the past few years. Some older fans and players may have a bit of a hard time accepting it all, but we need to remember that today’s younger generation is growing up with all kinds of technology so the mix of that with baseball should not be hard for them to adapt to.
On a different subject, the team seems to have played with a bit of a robotic feel lately and my first thought was that it was mostly due to the huge lead we’ve built in the division. But here’s a different thought. AF has built this team with guys who are good citizens and real grinders (JT, CT3, Muncy, etc.) but what this team hasn’t had since Dugo went down was a cheerleader personality, someone to keep a fire lit in the dugout. I think we miss him more than we realize.
Correction: Great post 2d2 (I always check, today I didn’t).
JT not ready to go, when initially ruled out for one game does not bode well.
Max obviously feeling discomfort from a fractured wrist does not bode well.
Cody, obviously not in the best of form does not bode well.
Gavin Lux looking a bit overmatched over the weekend does not bode well.
Issues with The Fresh Prince on both sides of the ball, does not bode well.
Rich Hill & the 4th Starter spot, does not bode well.
Verdugo is done for the season.
On the other hand,
The latest outings of all 3 potential Post Season Starting Pitchers, CK, Ryu & Buehler is encouraging.
Kenley’s outing last night was encouraging.
As was Maeda’s.
Joe Kelly is certainly a different animal now, and appears to be fit, which is
encouraging.
The Bullpen is performing well, which is very encouraging.
So, with 11 games to go, a few positives, and a few negatives.
Can’t wait for it all to get going now.
Lux was 4-11 with 2 runs, 3 rbi this weekend, of course with a bad 3 strikeout game Sat vs the best pitcher in the game. I don’t think he looked overmatched at all.
But yes, Muncy’s injury scares me, because we saw with JT last year that it can take some time for the wrist to get back to 100%. And even if his injury wasn’t as bad a JT’s, it’s still a wrist injury and and can linger for a while. And we don’t have a while for it to linger; we have 2 weeks till gametime!
Good point about Lux Bobby, but it was the DeGrom outing that concerned me – more the elite stuff you’re gonna get in October.
Max needs power, not sure he’s gonna get it back in time.
Watford Dodger
I’m getting nervous about all of the injuries. Muncy’s swing did not look right in the series against the Mets and I noticed once after he struck out that his injured hand came off the bat early. Now I might have just saw something that was normal but it looked different to me.
Turner’s injury is lingering and when I saw him being interviewed about the injury his demeanor seemed different like he is worried about the injury.
Everything that I have read about Verdugo’s injury is bad.
2 of those 3 guys (Turner and Verdugo) are contact hitters, guys that drive in runs when others are on base (RBI stats are irrelevant) and I’ve noticed for awhile now that the Dodgers are leaving a lot of guys on base. That’s just my eyes talking, I haven’t checked the stats.
Those 3 guys are a huge part of the offense and without them others will have to step up and if not then the pitching will have to step up (not something I want to rely on) to compensate for the decrease in offense.
I’ve been a huge fan of our offense (besides the few scraps that were added before the trade deadline) but with these injuries I’m not going to sugarcoat it, the offense isn’t going to be as good as it once was earlier in the season unless those guys come back healthy.
Hawkeyedodger: Yes, I mentioned the bad outing originally. But he was pretty good in his final 10 outings. And the Dodgers really liked Verlander, but the contract was an issue, according to stories in the LA Times. A few years before the Dodgers would have ignored the contract and gone after Verlander, but they were pushing to get below the cap so they could avoid tax penalties. None of this, of course, matters, but I wrote a piece on another site back then saying the Dodgers should go after Verlander instead of Darvish. Various reasons for that. Just thought Verlander was the better pitcher going forward. Plus lot of stories about what was going on with Darvish, why he getting blown up in games, tipping his pitches etc. if he was tipping his pitches, you’d think with the tech they could have figured that out. People can agree or disagree, but that was my assessment then. Nothing has changed.
People like to blame Friedman for not trading for Verlander but it was Kasten & Guggs who nixed it.
You weren’t the only one that preferred JV
Minor League Report above and
I Did not write today’s blog. It was 2 Demeter 2. Give him the credit.
2D2 must have a bevy of paralegals working for him. What a synopsis of the present state of technology and player development. What would Gus Lobel think of all this?
I wish I had a bevy of anything. I’m a one-man shop and I do all of my own work. I just wish I could understand technology like the Dodgers do and then apply it to my legal work. I need a radar gun that can measure my mental spin rate!! 🙂
Great article by Peter Gammons in today’s The Athletic about the Dodgers’ player development process.
https://theathletic.com/1214887/2019/09/16/gammons-the-dodgers-amazingly-thorough-development-program-fuels-another-successful-season/
A highlight:
“Jim Mattis once described his leadership approach as a former Marine general and, briefly, Secretary of Defense, as “recruit for attitude, train for skills.” Dodgers President of Baseball Operations Andrew Friedman was asked about how he related that approach to his baseball job. “Exactly,” Friedman replied.”
““It is amazing how thorough the Dodgers are in their development program, from the Dominican summer league right up to the big leagues,” says Red Sox hitting coach Tim Hyers, who spent two years in the Los Angeles organization. He remembers that, when Lux and Smith reported after the 2016 draft: “Their swings weren’t what one expected from first-round picks. But their scouting department knew they had tremendous makeups. The development staff did an incredible job with them.” Lux was the 20th pick, Smith the 32nd.”
Lots of other good stuff in the article.
Thanks for sharing this article. Some of what Gammons writes I was going to cover in my next post on player development. I will admit that Gammons does a much better job of writing than I do.
Maybe, but he’s a lousy lawyer. 🙂
Lovely article.
BTW
Hope you guys enjoyed the Solheim Cup as much as i did.
Amazing finish.
The what?? ;0)
What happen to 59inrow,hadn’t heard his input lately I thought he had great baseball knowledge, And fun to read his input and disagreements.
After I asked everyone to tone it down, he never came back.
Send him an “all is forgiven” email MT. He sometimes had a hard time controlling himself but he did add to the conversation here.
I liked him. He would ride me and I’d ride him back. He just went a little over the line and several complained. I do miss him. He’s passionate and doesn’t suffer fools well. I can relate…
I’ll reach out.
I’m still here, I just had to take a breather. All the negativity about the best team in baseball is driving me crazy. But, I was wondering about Bumsrap and Vegas. The site is much better when they’re on here.
Why send him anything?
If somebody’s reaction to a “tone it down” request is to leave, perhaps that person isn’t ideal for a community.
Exactly.
Geez, can’t a guy take a break.
Get your ass back in here! 😉
59, come on back. I apologize for egging you on with my comments. I appreciate your passion and insight. No hard feelings on my part!
Bumsrap and Vegas will be back… they come and go and pine for a kinder, gentler place, but ultimately know this is it. Where’s Dodger Blue Mom? I miss her too!