The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Data-gathering tools are essential for MLB teams
Measurements of pitches, batted balls part of information haul
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 minor-league 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, onbase 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.