This is a feature we have been working on for a while and are extremely excited about. It is the first time we have integrated two products (BCTeam and BallR) together so that they “communicate” with each other. BallR and BCTeam are each very valuable tools to use on their own, but bringing the BallR 3D visual to 2D BCTeam felt like a no-brainer to begin our first integration between products.
The BallR visual will populate in the top left corner when hovering over a plot in all of the following visuals: Strike Zones, Release Points, Break and Movement, and Polar Spin. It may take a few seconds to initially load, but once the first one pops up it will immediately switch the visual when you hover over a new pitch.
The visuals on Team like Strike Zones and Release Points help show where balls were located in the zone or released from the mound, but it is missing part of the story about how the pitch was thrown to get there. As pitch design continues to be very important for pitchers when working on a new offering, we felt this was a perfect way to help show how a ball is spinning based on different points in the strike zone or where a ball was released.
Maybe the most valuable places this feature shows up are on the Break and Movement and Polar Spin visuals. This allows coaches and players to hover over pitches to actually see what kind of spin created the movement that the pitch produced, and helps better understand the Polar Spin chart by also taking spin efficiency into account and not just Tilt and Spin Rate.
Right now the visual is set to default as 2 seam orientation for all pitches. As we begin to digest the seam orientation of pitches we will then be able to integrate that information to show the difference between a pitcher’s 4 seam fastball and his 2 seam changeup.
We have a lot more updates coming to all of our products before the start of the spring season so stay up to date with our blog and newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on anything new in the BaseballCloud world!
Next is showcasing PitchR in BCTeam.
Stay tuned.