Apple
Enters Major League Baseball Dugouts With iPad Partnership
Major
League Baseball has signed a multi-year agreement with Apple to provide teams
with iPads in the dugouts to provide teams with data readily accessible to the
teams. Teams are now able to pull up their opponent’s statistics such as
pitcher-hitter matchups, spray charts of where they hit the ball, and what
pitches are the most effective against a specific player. With iPads accessible
in dugouts, managers and players are now able to get a first-hand look at all
the replays and statistics that will improve team dynamics. The game of
baseball has always been a game of statistics by, calculating batting average,
ERA (Earned Run Average), fielding percentage, etc. In the past, you would have
to go into a game with all this knowledge about your opponent and try to
replicate what you’ve worked on in practice. Now with iPads in the dugouts
teams are able to have these statistics available to them first hand, giving
both teams an official scouting report.
This
is definitely a step in the right direction for Major League Baseball as the
game has been trying to change into a quicker and more advanced game. Major
League Baseball has implemented a timer on warmups and even instant replay into
the game, it was only a matter of time that they used technology to benefit
teams and not just the game. With the amount of data that is accumulated through
baseball, I think its almost surprising that baseball teams are using
technology to understand data so late in the technology era. Every team is
offered an iPad, however, not all teams are forced to use them incase they want
to remain to the old fashioned pen and paper technique. With Major League
Baseball gaining benefits from the partnership, Apple is now targeting a whole
new series of customers. Apple, who has been in a slump in sales can most
likely see a sales increase in sporting fans and coaches who want to take their
team to the next level. The only negative about this partnership is the lack of
appreciation technology has been receiving since entering the sports realm. A
majority of people feel technology slows down and ruins the integrity of an old
game that was played when horses were used as transportation. It makes you
think if automated data collecting machines could be developed to even
eliminate the human process of gathering data and just worrying about playing
the game.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-03-30/apple-enters-major-league-baseball-dugouts-with-ipad-partnership
http://www.wsj.com/articles/baseballs-latest-recruit-is-an-ipad-1459310403
I believe Adem made some very vital points in his blog post. First, he says that baseball has always been a game of statistics and with the addition of iPads in dugouts, statistics during games will become a lot more easily accessible. I believe this will help teams make decisions more timely and a lot easier. Having the iPad can help players and coaches to scout opposing hitters and pitchers. This will quicken decisions that have to be made promptly. Also, Adem says that this is one of the first ways that Major League Baseball has used technology to benefit teams and not just the game as a whole. I agree with this point because technology has been and up and coming trend for years now. Most sports have used technology in many different ways already to benefit both teams and the game as a whole. Baseball was one of the latest sports to start using technology. Only in recent years has baseball even implemented the technological feature of the umpires being able to look at a replay. I believe with the emergence of the iPad in dugouts, baseball will continue to come out with new rules and features that benefit both baseball as a whole and individual teams.
ReplyDeleteI feel that Adem made several compelling points in his blog. His introduction with the fact that baseball is a game that has always been centered around statistics makes me wonder why it took the sport so long to involve new technology. The introduction of new technology will surely increase the efficiency of decisions among ball clubs. Adem also includes the idea that the introduction of technology could ruin the integrity of the game. However, I feel that Major League Baseball would be foolish not to take advantage of the evolution of technology. As far as Apple goes in this deal, I agree with Adem that they will greatly profit. Being a baseball player myself, I have utilized Apple products while I play for the past couple of years. Apps such as GameChanger have allowed me to improve my play on the field. The app provides a great way to track my past performances, and study up on opponents. Overall, I believe partnering with Apple will be a home run for Major League Baseball.
ReplyDeleteI actually have some experience with this new form of technology. Last summer, I coached a 13 year old travel baseball team. Half way through our season, the organization began to implement iPads into our games. We used an app called GameChanger, where we as coaches would be able to keep lineups, pitching charts, and tendencies. As the game moved on, we would be able to make good decisions based off of the data we collected earlier in the game. For example, if we saw that one player kept pulling the ball to the left side of the field, we would shift the defense to the left in order to close up all the holes. For individual player benefit, we could use this software to track what each kid is doing well and what they could improve on. We would take this information into practice so we know what exactly to work on with each individual player. This being said, this software is a huge help on the youth level so I'm sure that it would be a huge asset to have on the professional level. It turns baseball into a more strategic game. It will allow for managers of professional teams to make logically sound choices based off of data collected from previous circumstances.
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