SURPRISE, Ariz. For coaches, managers and front-office personnel, data represents answers to questions, a means to make important decisions and assess performance. For Kyle Zimmer, data represents a path to fulfilling his dream of pitching in the majors.
Zimmer has spoken candidly about how that dream has been tested and even faded at times amid numerous injuries throughout his professional career. The Royals took him off the roster last year following his bodys most recent breakdown.
He spent six months working with the staff at Driveline Baseball trying to calibrate his body again, and cameras, motion-capture equipment and a small triangular contraption called the Rapsodo were his guides.
Usually, different guys have different tendencies, so you try to sort of narrow down one or two things to look at because you know if youre doing those things right then everything is on time and sequenced up, Zimmer said. If theyre off, then youve got to evaluate sort of what youre doing. Its just a great other avenue that we have with all the tech thats getting introduced to the game to be able to analyze at a more scientific level than the eye test.
This spring, the Royals have implemented the Rapsodo pitch-tracking system throughout camp. That small portable triangular device 7.1 inches tall, 15.1 inches long and 7.9 inches wide and priced between $4,000 and $4,500 each includes a camera and sits on the ground between home plate and the pitchers mound. Its present just about every time a pitcher throws off a mound.
The Rapsodo uses a camera and radar system to measure things like velocity, spin rate and pitch break. It can also produce three-dimensional trajectory imaging and be used to analyze things like the spin axis of a pitch and release points.
Yes. This is baseball in 2019, a mix of athletics and aerodynamics.
If Zimmer wants to look at his spin rate or spin efficiency on his fastball, study where hes consistently releasing the ball or find out exactly what happens when he throws a cut fastball as opposed to a two-seamer or four-seamer, that information is available.
Its interesting to me that you heard about Bostons success with Brian Bannister as their kind of analytical guy that is the go-between the analytics and the pitching coaches, Royals manager Ned Yost said. Then Dave Bush, who pitched for me in Milwaukee, is under Bannie and hes doing the same thing in the minor leagues.
For an old-school manager like Yost, the data-driven analysis certainly isnt his focus, but the Rapsodo is ever-present and the information it gathers will quickly become a part of the daily conversation for members of his coaching staff.
They understand all that crap, Yost said. I just make sure that they understand it. If they understand it and I need to understand it, they can explain it to me so at least were not missing the information. (Bullpen coach Vance Wilson) can tell you, he likes that stuff. (Quality control/catching coach) Pedro (Grifol), they love that stuff. Me, Im just like can you get somebody out.
Wilson and pitching coach Cal Eldred have been charged with making use of the data. Wilson said so far theyve simply been collecting data to provide a starting point for each pitcher.
Then I think where well use it the most is who is having issues, Wilson said. So its almost like we use it like a triage. For example, hypothetically, if theyre not swinging at Brad Kellers slider and by the eye test they should be, lets look at the numbers in Rapsodo.
Wilson, a former major league catcher, is in his first spring training working full time with the Rapsodo. He spent part of the offseason learning the equipment and familiarizing himself with the data.
Rapsodo focuses on movement and how the air influences movement, Wilson explained. Measurements, such as spin efficiency, convey how the ball is getting its movement from the air.