Bat sensors can now be embedded inside baseball bats during all minor league games in the 2019 season. This change does not affect the big leagues, where all such sensors are prohibited in games.
Representatives from Blast Motion and Diamond Kinetics confirmed the news to SportTechie. In 2018, embedded sensors were permitted in bats only in rookie ball—the lowest level of the affiliated minor leagues. The other leagues, from Class A on up through Triple A, could only use sensors that attached to the knobs of the bats.
In 2017, the only in-game of use of sensors were the ones attached to the bottom knob of bats in rookie ball: the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona Summer League. Each year, MLB continues to sanction incremental changes as part of its policy to permit wider use of the technology.
SportTechie Takeaway
TrackMan radars that calculate exit velocity and launch angle are now universal in professional baseball, forming part of the Statcast system in MLB and existing as standalone devices in the minors. That technology provides significant detail about the results of at bats in games.
Bat sensors, on the other hand, provide granular process data with such metrics as swing speed and approach angle. Until recently, that technology was only permissible in batting practice on the field or in the cage.
That contrast created a disconnect whereby players, coaches, and analysts received process data in a practice setting and results data in a game setting. Those environments, however, are very different in terms of pitch types, speeds, and movement, as well as the players’ heightened adrenaline, anxiety, and intensity. Syncing the two types of data in a game will provide the best setting for realistic scouting evaluations and mechanical assessments.
Having a bat sensor embedded into the bat, rather than on the knob, also replicates the feel and weight of the bats minor league hitters are used to swinging, and may swing if they reach the big leagues.