New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Hitting technology could help boost struggling lineups
organizations and coaches are supporting hitters over the last few years,” said Chris Antonetti, president of baseball operations for the Cleveland Guardians.
Asked if there had been any promising developments on that front recently and for examples he was willing to share, Antonetti cracked: “Yes ... and no.”
“That’s all you’re getting on that one,” a laughing Antonetti said.
One reason behind the early adoption of pitching technology was the quantifiable results. Make the right alteration to a curveball grip, one little tweak to a pitching motion, and the data shows an increase in spin rate or velocity almost immediately.
It’s a more tricky, subjective proposition when it comes to hitting.
“It was easier to track the baseball than it was to track the bat,” Chicago Cubs general manager Carter Hawkins said. “Now there are more things that can track the bat, and that’s allowing us to get more information about hitters.
“But the swing is so much more dynamic and contextual relative to the pitch, because the pitch, you’re know you’re fully in control of it, whereas the swing, there’s just so many different places it has to go.”
One of the tools used for hitting data is the Hawk-Eye camera system — which, among other capabilities, calculates exit velocity and estimates how far a batted ball travels. That system and the resulting data gets a significant upgrade this summer with the addition of five high-frame-rate cameras at the majors’ 30 ballparks and Salt Rivers Fields in Arizona.
The HFR cameras, which were tested by MLB last season, can capture video at 300 frames per second. They are capable of providing a more precise picture when it comes to bat speed and bat path.
“Hawk-Eye’s going to be huge, because having in-game data and in-game biomechanics is going to be an absolute gamechanger,” said Conner Watson, the lead hitting trainer at Driveline in Arizona.
Watson also is bullish on the prospects for motion capture — a common tool for pitching analysis for years — when it comes to hitting improvements, particularly when it comes to bat path.
“We’re able to quantify it now,” he said. “Where is his speed relative to his bat path? Does it get up to speed back here and then lose speed in the contact? Why is he steep? Why is he losing the barrel back? There’s just, we can answer it better now.”