MLB is planning a change to its revolutionary Statcast system, replacing TrackMan radar with Hawk-Eye cameras to track balls.
The league could have the new technology in place as soon as the 2020 season, according to The Athletic, which first reported the news. Sources confirmed the gist of the report to SportTechie but cautioned that multiple rounds of testing were still needed, adding that the change may take longer to be ready.
Statcast debuted in all 30 MLB ballparks for the 2015 season and has popularized the terms “exit velocity” and “launch angle.” Those metrics have codified a granular understanding that players, coaches, and fans have of offensive ability. The system uses radar to track ball flight—both the inbound pitch and the outbound batted ball—and ChyronHego’s optical tracking to record all movements by fielders and baserunners.
Hawk-Eye is best known for its work aiding in/out calls in tennis and for powering video assistant referee systems in soccer. The company’s website notes an ongoing MLB project to create a replay system with tracking data synced to the feed.
The Athletic obtained a copy of a letter sent by MLB EVP of strategy, technology, and innovation Chris Marinak to every club that said, “We expect this next generation system to significantly improve the accuracy and precision of ball and player tracking and unlock new tracking opportunities like bat swing path tracking and player limb tracking.”
Marinak’s memo also reportedly indicated that the league found Hawk-Eye to have “significantly enhanced accuracy on pitch location tracking, spin rate analysis, and player location tracking.” Not every feature or metric would be functional immediately.
The inclusion of swing path would be of particular interest because that cannot currently be quantified in MLB games. Bat sensors such as Blast Motion and Diamond Kinetics are permitted for use in all minor league games, but that technology is restricted to batting practice at the big league level.
In an interview with SportTechie during the MLB winter meetings last December, Marinak outlined possible Statcast upgrades to improve resolution and accuracy.
Marinak said at the time, “So not just player tracking as in where is the player, [but] where is the arm? Where is the hand? Where’s the bat? Where’s the glove? Where is the catcher setting up and receiving the ball? We’ve really just hit the tip of the iceberg in terms of tracking.”
