Evaluations of Flight Dynamic Parameters for Smart Baseballs

The purpose of this study is to analyze the accuracy of flight dynamic parameters for smart baseballs (SB), especially Strike, MAQ, PitchTracker and iBall. Various SBs were pitched ten times on the standard baseball area whereas a pitcher threw the SB toward the home plate. We also measured the value using Rapsodo Pitching (RP) and speed gun (SG) to confirm the flight dynamic parameters. When measuring the velocity of PitchTracker, the result from SG is significantly higher than the result shown in RP and PitchTracker (105.4 ± 1.45 vs 113.9 ± 1.30 & 111.2 ± 0.64 km/h, p<; .05). Additionally, the velocity of the ball measured by SG is generally slower than the actual speed. However, no statistical difference was found between RP and SBs when measuring the spin and rotation axis angle. Overall, the velocity and spin results obtained from the SBs when pitching Strike and PitchTracker are close to the result detected by RP.