Moneyball Monday 4/15 - Rapsodo Hitting Monitor

In previous Moneyball Monday’s we discussed spin rate, exit velocity, and launch angle. We are able to get this information from the Rapsodo hitting and pitching monitors.

What is Rapsodo? Rapsodo is a sport technology company that is based in St. Louis. Rapsodo makes golf, softball, and baseball monitors to track different metrics of a swing or motion for a sport.

Rapsodo makes a pitching and hitting monitor. For this edition, we will focus on the hitting monitor. The hitting monitor sits 14 feet in front of home plate. This monitor is portable so it can be used indoors our outdoors. It is very helpful to have indoors because it shows where the ball will go rather than just guessing where the ball went off the bat.

The Rapsodo hitting monitor (Black machine in front of home plate) in use during an indoor hitting session.

What does the Rapsodo hitting monitor track? The device is able to track the distance of the ball (how far the ball went until it touched the ground), exit speed (the speed of the ball off the bat), launch angle (the angle of the ball), the exit spin of the ball (how much the ball spins, measured in RPM), the direction of the ball, pitch speed, and the spin axis (the direction the ball is spinning). Let’s take a look at these data points on a hit.

The Rapsodo lists all the data points and then provides a visual of the hit on a field. This particular hit had an exit speed of 89.1 MPH, a launch angle of 19 degrees, a distance of 308 feet, a spin of 2334 RPM, spin axis of 01:04 (think of a clock), and the pitch was thrown at 80 MPH.

Rapsodo also gives you the option to take a video of a swing and put the data in the video:

How does the Rapsodo monitor get this data? Unlike the Trackman technology (technology used at Major League Baseball stadiums) which uses radar technology to track the ball, the Rapsodo hitting monitor will track the contact of the ball and then run that data through algorithms and then send that to the Ipad.

Art Chou, Rapsodo North America GM, stated in a recent interview “[Rapsodo] is taking a very accurate view of the images on a certain amount of the ball flight, then projecting out using aerodynamic models of the ball,” Chou said. “[We’re saying], here’s where it’s going to go, as opposed to . . . tracking the entire flight of where it is in space at any given point in time” (https://www.bluebirdbanter.com/2019/4/1/18265563/rapsodo-baseball-technology-toronto-blue-jays).

Why would MLB teams use this if they have Trackman? Trackman is used for in game data. The Rapsodo is portable, so it can be used in places where the trackman is not available like the back fields of a training complex, an indoor hitting cage, or essentially any space that you can hit a baseball. This allows team to track the data they need and compare it to in game data and work with the data to help the player develop.

How does Central use the Rapsodo hitting monitor? The Rapsodo data allows a hitter to make in the moment adjustments swing by swing. The data also allows us to track a player’s data over a period of time. We can see if a player is improving their exit velocity or have a better launch angle to avoid outs, and if there is a decline in the numbers it allows to spot that decline and figure out why a decline is happening.

We hope this informed you on what the hitting Rapsodo does and what it can do for player development. Next week we will take a look at the pitching Rapsodo. If you have any questions or want info on the Rapsodo you can email us (centralbaseballdata@gmail.com) or reach us on Twitter (@DutchBaseData).