Perfect Game, the world’s largest baseball scouting service, announced a partnership with Diamond Kinetics on Friday to enhance real-time scouting with smart bats and wireless motion sensors.
Under the terms of the deal, Pittsburgh-based Diamond Kinetics, which makes sensors that quantify athletic performance, will be the exclusive provider of sensor-based motion sensors to Perfect Game, adding new analytics to its already comprehensive suite of scouting tools.
Diamond Kinetics’ SwingTracker, a technology that analyzes swing performance across 11 different metrics — from speed and power to quickness and control — will now be featured at the more than 100 Perfect Game tournaments and showcases held across the U.S. each year.
The deal includes Diamond’s Smart Bat, which will be the only smart bat allowed in-game at Perfect Game events. Every player profile will now also include select SwingTracker metrics, including historical trend data.
In a statement, Perfect Game President Jerry Ford said the technology helps scouters evaluate players with “reliable, consistent and objective information, including from live game situations.”
At its events, players perform in front of college recruiters and professional scouts from Major League Baseball. To date, more than 960 players that have played in a Perfect Game event have also played in the MLB.
Diamond Kinetics CEO C.J. Handron said the companies are hoping to “set a new standard by which players are scouted and evaluated.” Diamond Kinetics has long been at the forefront of baseball technology. In 2015, it teamed up with DeMarini Sports. It also previously partnered with SportsBoard.
Diamond and Perfect Game plan to continue working together in the future, with Perfect Game serving as a development partner for future Diamond Kinetics’ technology, particularly when it comes to building tools that better measure athlete performance.
