Blast Motion’s swing sensor data is coming to baseball broadcasts
Major League Baseball had already approved Blast Motion’s swing analyzer for use in training sessions, but now that the gadget is official hitting sensor of the league, it’s going to be used for a lot more. Data from the $150 device will be used in television broadcasts, starting with the MLB All-Star Futures Game on July 10th. While that matchup is only an exhibition of the baseball’s up-and-coming young talent, Blast says other “select television broadcasts” will feature stats collected by the swing tracker.
The main feature of the Blast Motion platform is overlaying metrics on top of video captured with a mobile device, so it’s easy to see a transition to the world of television. There’s no mention of being approved for in-game use in official contests though, so we’ll be interested to see when and where the stats pop up. The baseball sensor, attaches to the knob of a bat and beams collected data via Bluetooth to a mobile device on power, time to contact, bat path, swing speed and more. As you might expect, there’s a special version of the app for pro teams to use that requires a unique log-in to use. You know, because pro baseball teams can’t be trusted these days.
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