The State of F/X: MLB.com Gameday and Baseball Analysis Improves

MLB Advanced Media provides us with the great stuff in Gameday, with the new 3D version coming very soon. We did get to see it in action on Sunday, and they've done very nice work. I think you'll all be pretty happy with it, too.  MLBAM was represented by Ross Paul, who provides us with those real time pitch ID's, and Justin Schafer. Justin and Ross shared a lot of information, context and perspective on the whole endeavor. And they listened. They asked questions, answered questions, and were fully engaged in the conference. Along with a gaggle of great people from Sportvision, a few spare physicists, and a bunch of bloggers, were representatives from nine major league teams. Including the creator of favorite baseball simulator, so I got to have my geeky fan moment.

Going back to Greg and his outstanding site Hit Tracker, I want to talk about future possibilities for the system. In particular, Hit f/x. With the existing cameras, you can pick-up batted balls - from high-launch homers to Baltimore chops - and Peter Jensen as the pictures to prove it. Peter got a collection of video files from Marv White (CTO, Sportvision) and, along with Rand Pendleton from Sportvision, was able to put together a variety of launch metrics from the existing tools. Alan Nathan, of the University of Illinois, had already done a study combining "hit f/x" data with Greg's data, and it seems they're on to something.

Besides having good company, a benefit of attending Friday's game with Greg was learning more about his work. I also was able to witness his process of photo-documenting nooks, crannies and landmarks. Greg's model of AT&T park is about to be improved, just in time for some Barry Bonds analysis that Greg may be about to embark on. Greg's talk on Saturday integrated fielding data via examples taken from a webcam in Nationals' Park. No, the cam is no longer operating, but he was able to find at least four shots that captured a ball in flight (one appears to be catcher's toss back to the pitcher) and lots of information on fielder positions. The work on home runs that we're all so familiar with is going to expand to more and more batted balls. Greg sees no technical reasons to not do this, only practical limitations and considerations raise doubt about the feasibility of the "Ultimate Gamecast". Greg not only gets this stuff technically, but he fully grasps the "immersion" factor that is so crucial to all fans, casual, technical, and, I'll throw in newbies, too. Be sure to visit the Summit web page and get Greg's slides. Like I said, innovations.

Now, time for the foam board. Sportvision's high tech lab (parking lot) and several baseball diamonds have played host to their engineers on many occasions to test the system. Setting up the PFX cameras, and placing a foam board on the front-plane of home-plate, they have been able to establish the level of accuracy of the px/pz values. Within 1 inch. Sometimes better. In any case, you and I can trust those plate locations within a third of a baseball. That's not enough for me to care about, so you'll see me exhibit great confidence on "red meat", "corner nibblers" and "ankle burgers" diagnosis going forward. Almost the same with the break numbers, too.

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