Moneyball Monday 4/22 - Rapsodo Pitching

Last week we introduced the Rapsodo hitting monitor. Now, it is time to take a look at the Rapsodo pitching monitor for this Moneyball Monday. The pitching monitor gained a lot of attention in the baseball world as it was visible during throwing sessions at Major League spring training camps this past year.

The pitching Rapsodo is able to track the following:

· velocity of the pitch represented in miles per hour.

· the spin rate (total spin) the ball has. This is measured in revolutions per minute.

· True spin is the amount of spin that contributes to the movement of the ball

· spin efficiency which is how effective the spin is. This is measured in percentages,

· spin direction which is the direction of spin measured in time (think of a clock)

· Release angle and horizontal angle measured in degrees

· Horizontal and vertical break of the pitch measured in inches

· Release height and side release which is measured in feet

· Rapsodo also gives four different 3D views of the pitch

The pitching Rapsodo has over ten data points on a pitch, so let’s take a look at a pitch:

This fastball had velocity of 87.4 MPH, spin rate of 1716 RPM, direction of 01:32, a spin efficiency of 99%, 14.8 in. horizontal break, 14.2 in. vertical break, release height of 5.5’ feet, and a side release of 1.4’ feet. And then we are able to see the pitch and its movement from the catchers view and where it landed in the strike zone from the pitcher’s view.

How does Central use the pitching Rapsodo? With the pitching Rapsodo pitchers are able to make pitch by pitch adjustments during a bullpen to get the most out of their pitches. Maybe a player wants to work on increasing their spin rate, so they are able to try different things with their release or grip and the data can provide feedback of whether the adjustment improved their results or not. The data also helps track improvement over time to make sure the player is improving. The data also can find an injury or another issue that may not be known, if a player's release height drops, velocity decreases, spin rate falls, or some numbers aren’t consistent with previous numbers can be a sign of injury. Note, the Rapsodo is not intended to be an injury prevention or treatment device, but if a player’s numbers do decrease you will want to figure out why and an injury could be a possibility, let a medical professional look at a pitcher before jumping at the injury conclusion.

The pitching Rapsodo in use during an outdoor bullpen. It is the box between the pitcher and catcher.

What does MLB Rapsodo data look like? Rapsodo provided every MLB team the pitching Rapsodo for spring training this past year and they produced a graphic showing the results of the collected data from MLB pitchers:

We hope this informed you more about the pitching Rapsodo and its capabilities. Stay tuned next week for another Moneyball Monday. If you have any questions about the Rapsodo you can connect with us on twitter (@CentralBaseData).