The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Tools to gather data essential for MLB teams
Measurements of pitches, batted balls part of information haul for Indians, affiliates
From the lowest levels of the minor leagues to the big leagues, data is an increasingly valuable player in professional baseball.
Using data collected by software with catchy trade names such as TrackMan, Rapsodo, PITCHf/x, FIELDf/x, Edgertronic SC1 and KinaTrax, baseball front offices are tapping into an array of scientifically precise measurements to judge the performances of players and shape their development.
The Indians and the 29 other Major League Baseball franchises have invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the last five years to acquire and install all or many of the aforementioned data-gathering tools.
Those tools are used not just by big-league teams but by all of the 174 minor-league affiliates of those MLB clubs.
The Indians are so committed to data-gathering and analysis that they have installed TrackMan, PITCHf/x and Fieldf/x units in the home ballparks of all their minorleague affiliates.
In addition, for the first time, the Indians are sending baseball operations fellows to travel with those minor-league teams to operate the radar-based TrackMan system and Edgertronic SC1 super slow-motion video camera at road games.
“In baseball and all professional sports, there definitely is a trend toward gathering more and different kinds of data,” said Indians’ assistant for baseball operations Zach Morton.
“Five years ago, we didn’t have access to near the amount of information we do now. Every day, the landscape changes,” Morton added.
TrackMan employs 3D Doppler radar to measures location, trajectory and spin rate of hit and pitched baseballs. Rapsodo is a similar technology.
PITCHf/x and FIELDf/x are camera-based tracking systems. The former measures speeds and trajectories of pitched baseballs. The latter focuses on player positioning in the field and factors related to defensive play. Both systems use live video of game action to augment data collection.
KinaTrax is another radar-based system that creates a 360-degree skeletal image of a pitcher’s delivery.
So ubiquitous is data collection that data-related terms such as spin rate, tilt, exit velocity and launch angle are as familiar to many fans as the long-standard measurements of batting average, earned-run average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.
“We use data for process, progress, tracking and goal-setting. If you don’t
use data to develop young pitchers, hitters and position players, you are missing the boat,” said Ruben Niebla, the Indians’ minor-league pitching coordinator.
These devices have steep price tags. TrackMan units, including the black box containing the radar array scanning the field from behind home plate, reportedly costs in excess of $30,000. Edgertronic SC1 cameras start at $5,000. KinaTrax reportedly has a per-unit price of $1 million.
Big-league teams are making these serious investments in data collection and analysis because to not do so would put them at a competitive disadvantage.
“I don’t think anyone can argue with the power of data,” said Luke Carlin, manager of the full-season Single-A Lake County Captains. “It’s information we’re not guessing at. It’s not about intuition and what we feel or think.
“I can tell you where every one of our players has hit every single one of their baseballs this season,” Carlin added. “You look up a spray chart and, boom, the information is there.”
In the 2019 Indians’ media guide, 17 employees are listed in the Information Systems department.
Gathering, using data
Nick Ruppert is the baseball operations fellow assigned to the Captains to operate TrackMan and Edgertronic SC1 during home and away games.
He also generates analysis of the data and interacts with Carlin and his coaching staff to interpret the data for presentation to players.
A 25-year-old native of San Diego, Calif., Ruppert was a standout baseball player in high school and at Dartmouth College.
After graduating with a bachelor’s degree is government, he played professionally for one year in Australia and France before landing a baseball operations internship with the San Diego Padres in 2018.
Earlier this year, he was hired by the Indians and assigned to the Captains.
“It’s been awesome joining this organization and getting this experience at the grass-roots level,” Ruppert said.
“I wear many hats in this role, but I am part of the staff and serve as a bridge between the data and the manager and coaches,” Ruppert added. “They know how players need to move to succeed at elite levels and are professionals at communicating that.
“Using objective data helps that communication. That’s where I come in, giving them tools to add to their tool belt.”
Carlin said the young players he works with in Lake County grew up with computers and cell phones and are tech-savvy. Using data to augment human instruction helps managers, coaches, coordinators and special instructors establish credibility with players.
“Here are the judgments a player makes with us in these jobs,” Carlin said. “Can I trust you?. Are you competent?. Can you help me get better? Having that data to back up what you’re telling them gets those questions answered.”
Captains infield Jesse Berardi said he and his teammates are sold on the value of the data made available to them.
“It helps make us better players,” Berardi said. “This is the way the game is going. If you’re not using data, you’re losing an edge.”
Major league teams have an agreement to share much of the data they gather with other teams. That gives Carlin and fellow minor-league managers and coaches access to an opponent’s tendencies that wasn’t available even a few years ago.
“There is no lack of information. It’s how to use it, when to use it and how much to use,” Carlin said.
Morton said the Indians are not de-valuing the human elements of scouting and instruction even as they swim ever deeper in the waters of data collection.
“Collecting and analyzing data is part of gathering the information we need to make solid decisions about players and player development,” Morton said. “We incorporate everything the managers, coaches and coordinators are telling us and use it in addition to what TrackMan is telling us.”