Right now, technology is revolutionizing the way baseball is being played and viewed. From new equipment and training tools, to new ways we can view and analyze players, baseball is progressing into a new age. This new age of baseball will use computers to better understand every detail of the game and help improve the natural abilities of players beyond what we thought was possible.
Here are four companies that are injecting technology into America’s pastime to modernize the sport, adapt it to today’s fast paced society and make the players better than ever before.
1. Dynavision
Dynavision is a new form of sensory training focusing on the eyes. Through their sensory training, Dynavision trains a player to track the ball better in the field, and most importantly, at the plate. According to Dynavision, their “vision training targets the brain and six muscles outside of the eyes that form the visual system. It is broken down into seeing, thinking and doing. Regarded as weight lifting for the eyes, it strengthens the ability to think quickly and helps eye muscles move efficiently.”
In short, their program helps batters perceive pitches better at the plate. One of their main tools is “The Dynavision D2 board, a 3’x3′ device with more than 60 lights blinking in a randomly generated sequence, tests [their vision] skills by forcing the player to utilize his peripheral vision to the fullest. [The athlete] stands 12 inches from the board, and slaps the flashing lights as quickly as possible. An attached computer analyzes accuracy, speed and location of targets.” Members of the Pittsburgh Pirates, such as 2014 All-Star Andrew McCutchen, have benefitted from this training and have spread the word to teammates.
What makes this so exciting for hitters in the MLB is the ability to recognize pitches better. Users claim the “ball’s spins become clearer and depth perception strengthens” after the training. Being able to see the ball better makes it seem to the hitter that they have more time to hit the ball and select better pitches. Additionally, being able to recognize pitches sooner is a huge advantage for batters when determining whether or not a swing at an off-speed pitch. One great testimonial of Dynavision’s success is the University of Cincinnati’s baseball team whose team batting average increased 30 points in one season after using Dynavision.
2. Evoshield
Evoshield is a company that makes protective gear for athletes. Their products have been so popular and successful in the baseball world, that they have become the official protective gear of the MLB. For years companies like Franklin, Easton, or Rawlings dominated the protective industry in baseball providing elbow guards and shin guards to batters. But now Evoshield’s lighter and more efficient designs have taken over the industry.
Today, Evoshield is still looking to grow and come up with new products to be used in the baseball world. Last April at the University of Georgia in Athens, students were visited by alum and founder of Evoshield, Stan Kavanage. In a Q and A session, Kavanage told the students about plans of creating a better protective hat for pitchers. He explained that the main concern many pitchers have about wearing a protective hat is that it would be distracting and may hinder their ability to pitch—even possibly putting them in more danger if the hat does not fit properly, impeding their vision after a pitch. Evoshield’s goal is to create a hat that is more comfortable, form fitting, and protective than its competition. If Evoshield can do this, more pitchers might consider wearing a protective hat.
3. MLBAM
One of the newest and most technologically advanced tools being utilized by the MLB is their own Major League Baseball’s Advanced Media (MLBAM). In 2000 it was originally designed to oversee all the Major League Team’s websites, but has become much more in recent years. Now it controls almost every digital aspect of Major League Baseball and has turned into a thriving business.
MLBAM is involved in tickets, social media, marketing, statistics, mobile and web applications, and live streaming coverage. MLBAM has been most successful through sales of mobile web subscriptions to view out of market games. What’s remarkable about MLBAM is the amount of detail absorbed from every game. Every detail of every pitch is monitored and recorded by MLBAM. What this means is they can provide even more detailed stats about each player that the standard stats we know do not show. MLBAM has recently begun to work on being able to break down every play completely on the field—even the physics involved in every play. Their “goal is to revolutionize the way people evaluate baseball, by presenting for the first time the tools that connect all actions that happen on a field to determine how they work together.” Three Major League ballparks should already be able to utilize this technology this season: Miller Park, Target Field, and Citi Field. With this technology, people can break down a fly ball catch by looking at the outfielder’s speed, acceleration, reaction, and other variables.
4. Zepp Labs
Zepp Labs specializes in having small, lightweight sensors placed on athletes to help track their motion. Specifically, it helps track the motion of a club, racquet, or bat. For baseball, they attach a small sensor to the knob of a baseball bat to monitor and track the path and speed of the bat in a three dimensional analysis. After data is recorded, it can be viewed on a computer or tablet to analyze someone’s swing from multiple different angles without taking video. From a hitter’s perspective, they are now able to see and know things about their swing that they may have never realized from watching film. Zepp Labs captures information such as hand speed, bat speed, time to impact, and even bat angle. In addition, with the digitalized 3D viewing, hitters can see their swing plane and the path of the bat to learn how to make a more deliberate, powerful, and efficient swing. For the first time in the Triple-A Homerun Derby, the audience was able to see live swing speeds broadcast on the jumbotron, brought to them by Zepp Labs.