Capturing Hit F/X Data By: Greg Moore

Overview  Why Capture Hit F/X data?  How can we capture Hit F/X data?  What is Hit F/X data?  Accuracy of Hit F/X data  Caveats of capturing Hit F/X data  Future uses of Hit F/X data  Questions and comments

Why Capture Hit F/X Data  Working to capture a baseball game as a digital record of the event (DRE) The DRE will drastically improve scouting, coaching, and front office decision making capabilities  We have some video dating back to 2007 and all of 2008 from the Pitch F/X system  Next step in solving baseball’s premier matchup The Pitcher / Batter duel

How can we capture Hit F/X data?  Pitch F/X cameras in all 30 MLB parks Predefined camera locations to capture video of hit ball and pitch Pitch trajectory to capture initial point of contact  Captured and capturing video for: 2007 – partial 2008 – all 2009 – all to date  Technology to track the ball off the bat

Technology to track the ball off the bat  Demonstration (Albert Pujols hit ball)

What is Hit F/X data?  Capturing initial velocity of the ball off the bat Directly measures the batter’s impact on a pitched ball  Initial speed off the bat  Initial position of the hit ball Where the hit ball intersects with the pitched ball  Launch angle of the ball off the bat -90 degrees is perpendicular with the ground, straight down 0 degrees is parallel with the ground 90 degrees is perpendicular with the ground, straight up  Horizontal spray angle of the ball off the bat 45 degrees is down the first base line 135 degrees is down the third base line 6

Capturing Hit F/X data: Accuracy as compared to PitchFX  Pitch F/X Captures 40 – 60 images of the baseball as it travels towards home plate Solves for acceleration, initial velocity, and initial position Pitch F/X technology solves for this trajectory and is accurate within 1 inch throughout the path of the ball  Hit F/X Captures up to 14 images of the baseball as it travels away from home plate Hit F/X technology solves for initial velocity and initial position We cannot yet solve for acceleration Hit F/X takes advantage of the same solving technology as Pitch F/X

Capturing Hit F/X data: Caveats and workarounds  Initial point of contact We can’t guarantee video of the ball touching the bat Hit F/X finds the intersection point from pitch trajectory and hit ball trajectory  Chopped ground balls Find images of ball after bounce Mirror the pitch trajectories, and hit ball trajectory about the Z plane Comes up with a relatively good estimate of hit ball trajectory

Future uses of Hit F/X data  Online products Further enhancments to GameDay  Broadcast Additional features showing more in-depth information into the hitter batter matchup Hits vs. Outs Plate buckets with hot zones based on speed, spray angle, launch angle Additional features surrounding the hit ball Eventually… the landing location  Team Data and Analytics Scouts can evaluate an up and coming player with new metrics and data Teams can evaluate players performance on new metrics Coaches can use data to perform pitching, fielding, batting adjustments Comparative player analysis Example: Greinke vs. Arroyo

Future uses of Hit F/X data: Examples

 Home Runs in 2009 hit off Bronson Arroyo

Future uses of Hit F/X data: Examples  Home runs in 2009 hit off Zack Greinke

Future uses of Hit F/X data: Examples  Hits vs. Outs against Zack Greinke

Questions and Comments