If you want to get a hit in the majors, you have to start swinging a third of a second after the ball leaves the pitcher’s hand.
Can you think fast enough to judge the pitch type and location? Test yourself:
Dr. Peter Fadde turned this quiz into an app that trains hitters through repetitions of “video occlusion.” His company, gameSense, is seeing a correlation between players who practice pitch recognition inside the app and increased on-base percentage (OBP).
“It’s the same drill and practice method that people use to learn math facts or vocabulary words but you’re using it for a very expert skill that people never thought was trainable,” Fadde told SportTechie.
Right now, the software is just for baseball and softball, but Fadde sees applications for tennis players returning serves, goalkeepers stopping penalty kicks, and even law enforcement facing use-of-force situations.
For his clients, Fadde recommends practicing within the app only about 10 minutes per day. And don’t overthink it, either – keep it simple on the field.
“What you don’t want to do is take it into the batter’s box,” Fadde said. “Just let your eyes and your brain do the work.”
SportTechie Takeaway
Unlike STRIVR, which has become a widely used training tool all over sports, gameSense is pretty low-tech: no headset, no immersion, no interactive models. The video clip Fadde provided us wasn’t even in HD.
Fadde emphasized that virtual reality and 360 video can be effective in the acquisition of a physical skill, but that his process, sometimes called “micro-learning,” is just as effective for improving a skill already developed – in this case, swinging a bat.
His wisdom: You need to be able to work on what you see without working on what you do at the same time.
Extra Credit: Pitching Patterns
If you aced the quiz, you might’ve picked up on some of the characteristics of pitches that Fadde studies. Here’s is take on what it means to “muscle up on a fastball,” have a skinny wrist, and how a slider is like a bowling ball: