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Digital Eyes Behind the Plate
Pitch-tracking software will give Major League Baseball umpires precise feedback on their strike calls.
By Tech Live staff
November 7, 2001
Video Highlight - Military Tracking Tech Now Being Adapted to Help Call Balls and Strikes
Whether it's Game 7 of the World Series or a regular-season game, disputes will always erupt over whether a pitch is a ball or a strike. But new technology may help umpires standardize the strike zone.
The technology comes from QuesTec, a company best known for creating the PitchTrax system seen during Fox Sports' baseball coverage.
"[Major League Baseball] felt they wanted to take the technology and make it part of the officiating process, as a feedback system for the umpires," QuesTec founder Edward Plumacher said.
QuesTec's PitchTrax and forthcoming umpire feedback technology are video-based systems that use a series of cameras to track each pitch during the course of the game, said Chris Malone, QuesTec's new media manager. The complete path of the ball is transferred over a local area network cable to a computer that displays the pitch's trajectory, speed, break, and location.
While the Fox Sports' PitchTrax system uses two cameras -- in the stands above first and third base -- to track the trajectory, speed and location of the ball, the Umpire Information System merely determines where the ball ends up over home plate. However, the umpire system is more precise, using four cameras to track the ball and two to measure the height of the hitter.
"What we do is we go back over all the called pitches we have for the game, and we go back and measure where the hollow of the knee is, the belt and the shoulder, and come up with a precise strike zone per batter, per pitch," Plumacher said.
Following a game, the home plate umpire can review a CD-ROM of every called pitch during the game to see how accurate he was.
The Umpire Information System is now online in four ballparks, including Phoenix's Bank One Ballpark, home of the World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks. Major League Baseball plans to have it operating in 10 parks by opening day next year. |
