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Statcast

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Statcastis a high-speed, high-accuracy, automated tool developed to analyze player movements and athletic abilities inMajor League Baseball(MLB).[1]

Statcast was introduced to all thirtyMLB stadiumsin 2015, a year now considered the beginning of theStatcast eraespecially by media outlets that extensively cover baseball. The Statcast brand is also licensed toESPN,which uses it to brand alternate statistical simulcasts ofthe network's gamesonESPN2andESPN+.

Usage[edit]

Each MLB organization now has an analytics team, using Statcast data to gain a competitive advantage. Clubs are unwilling to disclose exactly how they are using the data, engaging in an "arms race" of data analysis.[2]

Player accounts suggest Statcast data has replaced traditional metrics. For example, on the first day of spring training,Tampa Bay Rayshitters are told they will be measured by batted-ballexit velocity,not batting average. Also,Kris Bryantcredits his improved performance in 2016 with changes he made in the off-season to adjust the launch angle of his hits.[2]

Statcast data can be used to prevent injuries by tracking physical performance metrics through the course of the season. Data can also be extended to team performance metrics. For example, analysts can chart a defensive team's ability to throw runners out at home from various points on the field, accounting for relay throw efficiency and speed. A third base coach armed with this information should have a heightened degree of situational awareness, which ultimately affects their decision to hold a runner at third or send them home. This should reduce the number of runners needlessly cut down at home; but one must also take into account the fact that this information may lead to overly cautious decisions during situations when the reward outweighs the risks.[2]

MLBAM also has a team of analysts that peruse the data and figure out what it means. This provides an additional resource for teams, resulting in queries from front office executives and even players.[2]

Broadcasters use Statcast to showcase player talents. The Statistics page onMLBnow lists Statcast superlatives alongside the traditional hitting, pitching, and fielding metrics.[2][3]

History[edit]

Trevor Story's 518-foot home run of July 12th, 2021, is the longest measured by Statcast.

ThePITCHf/xsystem, first used in the 2006MLB postseason,is a camera-based system that can measure the trajectory, speed, spin, break, and location of a pitched ball. This provides objective data that can be used in combination with statistical outcomes to better predict the effectiveness of a pitcher or batter.[4]

Statcast was first unveiled at theMIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.It won the Alpha Award for best Analytics Innovation/Technology at the 2015 conference.[5]The system saw limited use during the2014 MLB season,as it was tested in three stadiums.[6]It was installed in all 30 Major League ballparks beginning with the 2015 season.[7][8]This technology integrates doppler radar and high definition video to measure the speed, acceleration, and other aspects for every player on the field.[9][10]

In the 2016 season,MLB Networkaired "MLB Plus" companion broadcasts for itsMLB Network Showcasegames, which feature advanced analytics and usage of Statcast data.[11]

For the 2017 season, theTrackMancomponent of Statcast replaced the previousPITCHf/xsystem for official measurements of pitch speed. As official pitch speed readings are now based on maximum velocity (typically from the release of the pitch), rather than the speed measured 55 feet from home plate, there have been notable discrepancies in pitch speed reports between those reported in 2016 and 2017, with some pitches registering slightly higher speeds than with the previous system.[12][13]

In 2017, Statcast won aTechnology & Engineering Emmy Award.[14][15]

Terminology[edit]

These are the relevant terms and definitions for Statcast output data.[16]

Pitching

  • Release:Measures the time from pitcher's first movement out of the stretch to the release point of the pitch.
  • Extension:Measures the distance of the release point of the pitch from the front edge of the pitching rubber.
  • Velocity:Measures the peak velocity of a pitch at any point from its release to the front edge of home plate.
  • Perceived velocity:Velocity of the pitch at the release point normalized to the average release point for MLB pitchers. For example, a 90-mph pitch at a 54-inch release point will seem slower to the batter than a pitch of the same velocity thrown from a 56-inch release point.
  • Spin rate:Measures the spin rate of the ball at the point of the release from the pitcher's hand.

Hitting

  • Exit velocity:Velocity of the ball off the bat on batted balls.
  • Launch angle:The vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat on a batted ball.
  • Vector:Classifies the horizontal launch direction of the batted ball into five equal zones of 18 degrees each.
  • Hang time:Measures the time from bat contact to the ball either hitting the ground/wall or contact by a fielder.
  • Hit distance:Calculates the distance on the ground of the actual landing point of any ball hit into play, ground/wall or contact with fielder, regardless of outcome.
  • Projected HR distance:Calculates the distance of projected landing point at ground level on over-the-fence home runs.

Baserunning

  • Lead distance:Measures the distance between the base and the runner's center of mass at the time the pitcher goes into his windup on a pitch or pickoff attempt.
  • Secondary lead:Measures the distance between the base and the runner's center of mass when the ball is released by the pitcher on a pitch or pickoff attempt.
  • First step:Measures the time elapsed from time of bat-on-ball contact to the runner's first movement toward next base.
  • Stealing first step:Measures the time elapsed from the pitcher's first movement in the stretch to the runner's first movement toward the next base on a steal attempt.
  • Acceleration:Measures the time elapsed from time of bat-on-ball contact to the runner's max speed at any point ball is in play.
  • Max speed:Measures the maximum speed at any point for all players while the ball is in play.
  • Dig speed:Measures the time from bat-on-ball contact to the point where the batter-as-runner reaches first base on an infield ground ball.
  • Extra bases:Measures the time of bat-on-ball contact to the point the runner advances an "extra" base (first to third or home, or second to home) on all hits (excluding over-the-fence home runs).
  • Home run trot:Measures the time elapsed from time of bat-on-ball contact to the point where the batter-as-runner reaches home plate on home runs.

Fielding

  • First step:Measure the time elapsed from time of bat-on-ball contact to the fielder's first movement toward the ball.
  • First step efficiency:Measures the angle of deviation from a straight line to the ending point of a batted ball trajectory vs. the actual initial path taken toward the ball.
  • Max speed:Measures the maximum speed at any point while tracking any ball hit into play.
  • Acceleration (outfield):Measures the time elapsed from time of bat-on-ball contact to max speed at any point while pursuing any ball hit into the outfield.
  • Total distance:The total distance covered from batted ball contact to fielding the ball.
  • Arm strength:Measures the maximum velocity of any throw made by any fielder.
  • Exchange:Measures the time from the point a fielder receives the ball to releasing a throw.
  • Pop time:Measures the time elapsed from a pitch reaching catcher's glove, to throw, to receipt of the ball by fielder at the intended base on all pickoff throws and steal attempts.
  • Pivot:Measures the time elapsed between receipt of the ball and release of throw on double-play attempts.
  • Route efficiency (outfield):Divide the distance covered by the fielder by a straight-line distance between the player's position at batted ball contact and where the ball was fielded.

Technology[edit]

The Statcast system uses two cameras to replicate thebinocular visionof the human eye. Together, the cameras providedepth perceptionto easily distinguish between bodies on the field. The radar system measures the data, such as the speed and route of the players on the field. By combining the camera and radar data, dozens of physical metrics relating to every aspect of the game (pitching, hitting, baserunning, and fielding) can be obtained.[7]

For a typical Major League baseball game, Statcast generates roughly seven terabytes of data. As the intent of the system is to emphasize player superlatives, impress fans and provide player evaluation abilities to teams, much of the data in a typical game is not useful outside averaging purposes. Computers parse through the data to extract the most interesting plays.[7]

AsMajor League Baseball Advanced MediaCEO Bob Bowman explains "We’ve been in the tech business for 13, 14 years. Job 1 is to get what’s in front of us out clearly, quickly, and accurately. That’s a big task, and it’s not going to happen overnight. What’s the 2.0 version of this? We don’t necessarily have a clear view of what 2.0 looks like. We’ve come to believe that while the unexpected can come back to haunt you, the unplanned isn’t bad. We’ll put stuff out, see what people like, then figure out what we want 2.0 to look like."[7]

Statcast usesGoogle Cloudas its cloud data and analytics partner, switching from original partnerAmazon Web Servicesin 2020.[17][18][19]Hawk-Eye Innovationsprovides the high-speed cameras for Statcast in MLB stadiums.[20]

Records[edit]

Aroldis Chapmanthrew MLB's fastest pitch per Statcast, 105.1 miles per hour, in July 2016

Nomar Mazarahit a 505-foot (154 m)home runwith theTexas Rangersto set the record for the longest distance measured by Statcast in the major leagues.Leandro Cedeñohit a home run measured at 527 feet (161 m) in the minor leagues.[21]Giancarlo Stantonrecorded the hardest hitbatted ball,with a ground ball with a recorded 123.9-mile-per-hour (199.4 km/h) exit velocity,[22]and the then longest distance for a home run, at 504 feet (154 m), measured by Statcast.[23]On August 9, 2018, in a game against theTexas Rangers,Stanton hit a home run with an exit velocity of 121.7 miles per hour (195.9 km/h), the fastest exit velocity for a home run measured by Statcast, surpassing the previous record of 121.1 miles per hour (194.9 km/h) held byAaron Judge.[24]Aaron Hicksregistered the fastest throw recorded by Statcast, at 105.5 miles per hour (169.8 km/h).[25]

Aroldis Chapmanset the record for fastest pitch recorded by Statcast at 105.1 miles per hour (169.1 km/h) in July 2016, tying his own record from 2010 for the fastest recorded pitch in MLB history.[26]Through August 2015, Chapman had registered the 101 fastest pitches thrown in MLB, leading Statcast to introduce a filter to remove Chapman from custom leaderboards.[27]In 2018,St. Louis CardinalspitcherJordan Hickstied Chapman's record (105.1 mph) with asinkeragainstOdúbel Herreraof thePhiladelphia Phillies.[28]

References[edit]

  1. ^Casella, Paul (April 24, 2015)."Statcast primer: Baseball will never be the same".MLB.RetrievedSeptember 30,2015.
  2. ^abcdeChen, Albert (August 26, 2016)."The Metrics System: How MLB's Statcast is creating baseball's new arms race".Sports Illustrated.RetrievedAugust 27,2016.
  3. ^"Statcast Leaderboard".mlb.RetrievedAugust 27,2016.
  4. ^Fast, Mike (2010)."What the Heck is Pitchf/x?"(PDF).The Hardball Times Baseball Annual 2010.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  5. ^Kato, Kento (March 2, 2015)."MLBAM Brings Home Top Honors at 2015 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference".Sport Techie.RetrievedAugust 8,2016.
  6. ^Sandomir, Richard (April 21, 2015)."Statcast Arrives, Offering Way to Quantify Nearly Every Move in Game".The New York Times.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  7. ^abcdKeri, Jonah (March 4, 2014)."Q&A: MLB Advanced Media's Bob Bowman Discusses Revolutionary New Play-Tracking System".grantland.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  8. ^Nathan, Alan M."The Physics of Baseball".illinois.edu.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  9. ^"MLB's new Statcast technology will change the way you watch baseball".USA Today.May 6, 2015.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  10. ^Cole, Bryan (August 21, 2014)."Making sense of the video tracking systems".Beyond the Boxscore.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  11. ^"MLB Plus an advanced, analytical way to watch".MLB.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  12. ^"Did any pitchers actually throw harder on Opening Day?".Pinstripe Alley (SB Nation).Vox Media. April 6, 2017.RetrievedApril 7,2017.
  13. ^"Estimating Release Point Using Gameday's New Start_Speed".Baseball Prospectus.April 5, 2017.RetrievedApril 7,2017.
  14. ^"ChyronHego Wins Technology & Engineering Emmy® Award for TRACAB Player-Tracking System".PRWeb.Cision. September 7, 2017.RetrievedMay 19,2022.
  15. ^"Claudio Silva".NYU Tandon School of Engineering.RetrievedMay 19,2022.
  16. ^"Statcast: Glossary of terms".MLB.April 15, 2015.RetrievedJuly 16,2016.
  17. ^"Press release: Google Cloud named Official Cloud Partner of MLB | MLB".MLB.March 3, 2020.RetrievedSeptember 26,2020.
  18. ^"MLB and Google Cloud | Press releases".Google Cloud.March 3, 2020.RetrievedSeptember 26,2020.
  19. ^Spangler, Todd (March 3, 2020)."MLB Swings From Amazon's AWS to Google Cloud for Data and Analytics".Variety.RetrievedSeptember 26,2020.
  20. ^Jedlovec, Ben (July 20, 2020)."Introducing Statcast 2020: Hawk-Eye and Google Cloud".MLB blogs | Medium.RetrievedSeptember 26,2020.
  21. ^"Leandro Cedeno crushing baseballs, expectations with the Amarillo Sod Poodles".Amarillo. August 7, 2022.RetrievedDecember 28,2022.
  22. ^Landers, Chris (June 9, 2016)."This Giancarlo Stanton grounder is the hardest-hit ball ever recorded by Statcast".MLB.RetrievedAugust 8,2016.
  23. ^Townsend, Mark (August 6, 2016)."Giancarlo Stanton crushed a 504-foot home run at Coors Field".Yahoo! Sports.RetrievedAugust 8,2016.
  24. ^"Statcast".MLB.RetrievedAugust 10,2018.
  25. ^Hoch, Bryan (April 21, 2016)."105.5! Hicks' throw fastest in Statcast era".MLB.RetrievedAugust 8,2016.
  26. ^Joseph, Andrew (July 18, 2016)."Aroldis Chapman throws 105 mph to tie his own record for the fastest MLB pitch".USA Today.RetrievedAugust 8,2016.
  27. ^Cosman, Ben (August 14, 2015)."Check out MLB's fastest non-Aroldis Chapman pitches with the Statcast 'Chapman Filter'".MLB.RetrievedAugust 8,2016.
  28. ^"Statcast".Major League Baseball.RetrievedAugust 12,2019.

External links[edit]

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