Some foolish people have been known to say that 21st century baseball is slow and boring. We’re willing to bet, however, that even those guys get a thrill when the ball hits a bat’s sweet spot and is outta here. We can all agree that anything that makes that happen more often is what’s technically referred to as a “good thing.”
Major League Baseball recently made multi-year deal with Blast Motion that could ensure we hear that sweet “Thwock!” more often. Blast Motion is known for sensor-based motion capture and the company’s Blast Baseball, now the MLB’s official bat sensor technology. The device is for training use only, so don’t expect to spot it during a game.
Blast Baseball’s paired sensors analyze a player’s swing, and Blast Motion’s Smart Video Capture works with the player’s smartphone’s camera and a mobile app to provide visually synchronized metrics and visuals. One sensor fits tightly and easily over the bat’s knob. It looks like this: