Statcast, which we have covered before, will be making its official television debut tonight during MLB Network’s broadcast of the Cardinals vs. Nationals game. Already used by front offices within the league, Statcast will now be available for all MLB Network Showcase games.
The technology which fans were able to see for the first time during last year’s playoffs and All-Star game, will also be available for additional broadcasts as well. For those of you that don’t know, Statcast is a breakthrough technology that can gather and display aspects of the game that have never been explored before for television audiences. It uses multiple high-resolution optical cameras and radar equipment to track the location and movements of the ball and every player at any given time.
Get The Latest Sports Tech News In Your Inbox!
This allows for a never-before-seen amount of numbers and statistics for pitchers, batters, runners, and fielders. MLB.com displays the stats from Statcast, but some examples of the in-depth stats it can produce include perceived velocity, spin rate of a pitch, velocity off a hitter’s bat, launch angle and vector of a hit, top speed and acceleration of a fielder or a runner and how far a player travels within a given play. Brian Kenny, an MLB Network analyst has described Statcast as, “a revolutionary technology that will change the way fans around the world view our national pastime.”
Statcast provides scouts and front offices with another tool to evaluate a player. In fact, there have already been cases of teams making roster decisions based on the new technology. The Houston Astros signed Collin McHugh off waivers in 2013, which was surprising because he was 0-8 with an 8.94 ERA. The Astros liked what they saw in the spin rate of his curve ball though, and after encouraging him to throw it more, the right-hander had a breakthrough year.
This is a potentially revolutionary technology that will have a positive impact on fans, players, scouts, front offices, and announcers making tonight’s game a very exciting day within the world of baseball. Baseball fans are excited to see the full potential of Statcast and are awaiting some very interesting numbers and statistics that we have never had access to before.