Track man at PBR

Doing Blast motion as well. 

My kid is doing a PBR the first weekend in March. Will be interesting if they have these things happening. I do not know much about the technology but it feels like it could be difficult to track every kid with this technology in an efficient manner as they move them thru relatively quickly after 10 or so swings. 

Feels like it will be easier to use the pitching metrics with this technology.

They had all of this set up at the Super 60.  I think there were 80-100 kids.  Very efficient.  In fact, We got there at 11 and walked out by 1:30.  The entire event was 9-3 I think.  It is doable.

First Blast, then Track Man and now Driveline. https://www.prepbaseballreport...-Feedback-9502817634. 

PBR has made some strategic moves since acquiring LakePoint. Good for baseball!

My question is around how they measure and show Exit Velocity.  My son's team mate went to 3 different PBR events this year.  For measuring EV, one did it off the Tee with a gun, one was soft toss with Trackman and one was live pitching with Trackman.   EV ranged from 77-94, they list 94 on the profile...  I guess if you are going to do a PBR event, only do ones with Trackman and live pitching?

If a hitter's EV off a tee (i.e., the ball is stationary) is 90 mph ... how would you "mark up" the EV if it was measured during:

a) front soft toss?
b) on field batting practice  (i.e., coach throwing ~ 50 mph from ~ 40 ft)?
c) live pitching (i.e., getting the barrel on a middle-middle 85 mph FB)?

Is there a rule thumb that scouts and evaluators use when grading hitters and making their list of prospects?

I'll put on my luddite hat for a moment.  While I think Trackman, Blast, Rapsodo and the like are valued by some, I feel this stuff is more flavor of the day.  I feel too many turn to technology because it's the shiny, new object and because the old fundamental tried and true things can't be wrapped up in a sleek box, marketed and sold with monthly subscriptions to access extra "features".

My 2021 son committed to a JUCO in July and on his visit during the tour, the HC motioned over to a couple Rapsodo units that have.  He said they're simply another tool in the toolbox and that they don't use them all that much.  When referring to my son, he said something along the lines of "I don't have to hook your son up to a machine to see that his throws have carry."  Everything these toys record that matter are visible in the actual game.  Especially if you're a legitimate coach.  You can see spin rate without it's number popping up on your app.

While I can appreciate PBR adding these tools to the mix, it's causing their price per event to increase substantially even though the overwhelming majority of coaches who put much stock into measurables are looking at the standard ones like exit velo, throwing velo, 60s and the like.  Do me favor, add your son's RA(g's) numbers to his next email or video and circle back and let us know how many offers it produces or even assists with.

I have no doubt that at least some programs are way deep into this stuff.  So for them and the recruits that also get way deep into it, it might help some.  Likely more so for pitchers than anything else.  But for 99%+ here on HSBW, none of this will be mainstream/widely accepted while our kids are still playing the game, so almost 100% irrelevant IMO.  

@Miller2020 posted:

My question is around how they measure and show Exit Velocity.  My son's team mate went to 3 different PBR events this year.  For measuring EV, one did it off the Tee with a gun, one was soft toss with Trackman and one was live pitching with Trackman.   EV ranged from 77-94, they list 94 on the profile...  I guess if you are going to do a PBR event, only do ones with Trackman and live pitching?

 

Son did PBR Underclass Games at Lakepoint in June. If you look at his "dashboard", you'll have numbers across the top. In his case (catcher), it's 60, C velo, exit velo (off tee), and pop time range.

Then deeper into that event info, you have those numbers.

Following that, you have Trackman data (from live BP) showing max exit velo, avg exit velo, avg distance, and max distance. It also gets broken down for GB/LD/FB percentage, and a HHB percentage.

Finally you have Blast info, for max and average hand & bat speed, rot efficiency, etc..

As far as I know, none of this is pulled from in game, but is only part of the workouts.

So based on this (and other players we know), if you do an event that has Trackman, you'll get tee EV as well as BP EV.

At my son's mid-major they track all swings taken during practice (BP, scrimmage, etc.).  Son gets a spreadsheet that shows exit velo, launch angle, distance, etc. for every batted ball.  The hitters have targets for some of these and their progress is tracked. A friend of his is at a P5 powerhouse and says that they have the same equipment, but don't really do much with the data.  

my quip with PBR is here they allow ANY bat to be used.  BESR?  NFHS illegal 33" Meta?  Rolled/shaved modified wonderbat you found using Google?  go right ahead!  the business strategy seems to be "attend our events and post better numbers than you would at the competitor's events"  coaches aren't stupid.   they quickly figure out the data is garbage and stop paying attention to that source.  consumers are stupid and attend so they can point to a magic number.  even thought it's with an illegal bat using a swing that would never work in a game. 

@bandera posted:

my quip with PBR is here they allow ANY bat to be used.  BESR?  NFHS illegal 33" Meta?  Rolled/shaved modified wonderbat you found using Google?  go right ahead!  the business strategy seems to be "attend our events and post better numbers than you would at the competitor's events"  coaches aren't stupid.   they quickly figure out the data is garbage and stop paying attention to that source.  consumers are stupid and attend so they can point to a magic number.  even thought it's with an illegal bat using a swing that would never work in a game. 

I agree with you.  Our state has no credibility with the numbers.  We had a recent event where the kids were clocking 6.6-6.8 flat.  The same kids have 7.1-7.2 PG profiles.  Those kids went to the PBR futures games and were .2-.4 slower across the board than they were at the local PBR event.  All of those numbers should be wiped off the profiles.  

Here's my question--it's nice to have the numbers, but what do you do with them? Son's college uses a ton of technology, but they actually understand what the numbers mean and how to use them to improve players. If you don't have that, I don't see a ton of value.

Coaches and scouts understand the numbers.  If your metrics using trackman or rapsodo stand out, they will know it.

Our PBR (MN/IA/NE/SD/ND) let us know about any bat restrictions (as in no META) in advance but allow kids to use their own bats. Would be nice for them to go only wood for uniformity and most kids have a wood bat (that are at least 15u) as there are a fair amount of wood bat tourneys here in the Midwest. 

The PG that my son attended last February had a Diamond Kinetics bat thing on their own bat. I think that 32", 33", 34" were all available to swing whatever size they wanted.