sports grind

A new camera system is about to take the guesswork out of baseball statistics. Evaluating fielding is the hardest math in baseball due to the number of unknowns. How much ground was covered? How fast was the ball moving? What were the odds for or against him catching the ball? These and many other unknown variables are in effect during any given play.

Sportvision is installing a new player-tracking camera system into ballparks during this off season, which is expected to be able to produce accurate defensive statistics.

The Field FX camera system records the action while object-recognition software identifies each fielder and runner, as well as the ball. After the play, data is available for every movement, including the trajectory of the ball, how far the player ran, etc.

“After an amazing catch by an outfielder, we can compare his speed and route to the ball with our database and show the TV audience that this player performed so well that 80 percent of the league couldn’t have made that catch,” claims Ryan Zander, Sportvision’s manager of baseball products.

In fact, the technology may even influence how teams scout players, and award contracts. Wharton School statistician Shane Jensen, who writes models for fielding stats, enthused, “We can pick out systematically who’s good and bad, but there’s still guesswork with our models. We’ll certainly be able to settle who’s the best shortstop.”

Source: PopSci