The NCAA Softball Rules Committee approved the use of swing-tracking bat sensors during games for the coming 2018 season, becoming the first major baseball or softball organization to approve the devices for competition. The data will not be accessible until after the games but will provide a new reference point for players and coaches.
“The ability to use sensor technology in practice environments is really valuable, but there is a natural desire from players and coaches to compare game swings against practice swings,” Diamond Kinetics CEO C.J. Handron wrote in an email to SportTechie. “NCAA Softball and its membership have taken a progressive step forward as a leader in enabling the use of this technology that hopefully will serve as a roadmap for other organizations that are considering doing the same.”
Though Major League Baseball has named Blast Motion the sport’s official bat sensor technology, its use so far has been restricted to batting practice, the 2016 Futures Game (with data broadcast on television) and rookie ball. The latter consists of the Gulf Coast League and the Arizona Summer League and is the lowest rung of the minors — the so-called complex leagues because clubs play home games at the spring training facilities.
The new measure from the NCAA, however, will enable the technology to be used by all levels of college softball. Rule 3.3.1.7.2 now permits bat knobs to be hollowed out for a sensor so long as the device does not affect performance, is secured by both a primary and back-up locking mechanism and have an offline mode to prevent in-game access.
Washington Huskies coach Heather Tarr — whose in her 13th year guiding a program that has made 24 straight NCAA tournament appearances, reaching the Women’s College World Series in half of those seasons and winning the 2009 national title — said her team has used bat sensors made by Zepp and Diamond Kinetics over the last four seasons.
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Tarr’s primary objective for the sensors has tilted more toward monitoring workload — and thus motivating players to work more on their swings — but noted an interest in seeing performance data, particularly if it could be gleaned from a game. One hurdle she’s had in the past with convincing players to use the devices has been the prohibition for competition use because of concerns the knob would feel different.
“They didn’t want to practice with it if you couldn’t use it in games,” she said. “Now, the fact that how you practice is just like you can [swing] in a game, we may use it more.”
Allowing in-game tracking can also open up a whole new slew of metrics and comparisons.
“Ideally, a player wants to take the swing they have worked to improve in a practice setting into the game,” Handron wrote. “The reality is that doesn’t always happen. Being able to compare game swing data against practice data creates a tremendous opportunity for a player and coach to more quickly and objectively understand what may be changing mechanically in that transition from a practice situation to a game.
“It also creates opportunity to start to analyze changes in the swing based on specific pitch type, pitch location or differences when facing left handed vs. right handed pitching.”
MLB’s radar-powered Statcast system only provides an estimated swing speed using a proprietary algorithm, so any reliable data compiled from a direct measurement like a bat sensor would be more accurate and more helpful. The sensors are more commonly found on the amateur circuit, which Diamond Kinetics partnering with the Perfect Game showcases and Blast Motion with AAU. College softball will provide a higher-profile testing ground for this technology next spring.