I have never met a coach who did not want some advantage going into competition. Dartfish has just announced a major update to its Baseball-Softball coaching toolset, giving coaches that desired advantage, with our new game planning and player preparation tools.

This new update focuses on coaching staff efficiency in developing and executing game plans. It provides new predictive graphical reports, replacing the tedious process of coaches having to watch game video and to create manual notes on players. The reports are automatically generated from charting data and can be viewed interactively or printed in PDF format.

The graphical reports can also be used to filter pitch video and create smart video playlists on the opponent’s pitchers and hitters. This video link can be shared with the players to view in team meetings or for review on their mobile phones – anytime, anywhere.

SAMPLE PITCHING TENDENCY REPORT: The sample report below is called the “Pitcher Tendency Report”.

By reviewing the report, coaches can determine dominant pitch type patterns in all counts that will provide hitters an advantage against the opposing pitcher. Below is a sample report that shows predictive pitch type patterns of a pitcher that you will be facing. The report shows the top three pitch types and location of the pitch. The pitch location heat mapped charts can be filtered by the pitch type or pitch result.

Dartfish baseball

Generally, pitchers tend to be predictive when they need to throw strikes. The new update provides the ability to navigate to each count and easily extract pitch type patterns and specific details for specific counts. Typical counts would be first pitches, behind in counts and 3-2 counts. Next, we will show an example of using first pitch patterns to hitters.

FIRST PITCH GAME PLANNING ANALYSIS: We can see from the charts that the opposing pitcher throws strikes on the first pitch. Hitters taking the first pitch will fall behind in the count 68% of the time. That is a percentage we do not want our hitters to get into. Hitters that handle curve and rise balls should be aggressive, looking for pitches away. Coaches should duplicate the process for counts where the pitcher needs to throw a strike.

Below is a sample of a video playlist, created by filtering the tendency report on a specific opposing pitcher’s predominant pitch pattern. With one push of a button, the system creates the video playlist that can be viewed or shared with the hitters. The video playlist shows first pitch curve balls and rise balls thrown to a specific location 68% of the time. Preparing your players using our smart playlist is a very effective method of game preparation.

We hope that after reading this paper, you have seen the value that our Baseball-Softball products can provide your program. For additional information, or a live (no obligation) product demonstration, please contact chuck.wilmot@dartfish.com

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