I watch every inning of every Philadelphia Phillies baseball game. This is finally our year.
OK, maybe not, but it’s somebody’s year; as long as I’m enjoying baseball, I’m good with it.
I’ve aged out of actually playing the game myself, but as a college engineering professor with access to great technical talent and super-fast computers, I‘ve become more and more interested in the physics behind the flight of the pitched ball. I carefully observe every throw; I study every slider, 12-6, slurve, flame thrower, Uncle Charlie, and even the occasional Nuke. I gasp at every brush back and laugh at the batter’s reaction when the pitcher pulls the string on a changeup.
Obviously, I’ve become good at baseball slang, but through observation, modeling, and thousands of calculations, I’ve learned a ton about recognizing the various pitches and quickly predicting balls and strikes. Over the past five years I’ve been working with another professor at Villanova University to create a highly accurate, physics-based virtual reality software training system called PITCHvr™ Vision to teach those skills – and more – to players at all levels of baseball.
But it kind of makes me sad.
I’ve gotten so good at pitch and strike zone recognition, but I just can’t play anymore. Yeah, yeah, I know you saw some 90-year-old guy on TV running to first base in a league for geezers. Nope – not going to happen.
Here’s what I am thinking: I can’t play anymore, but maybe I can use my acquired skills to become an umpire (a good one).
With PITCHvr™ you can walk out of the virtual reality batter’s box and stand behind the plate. It’s the perfect umpire view. The same training techniques PITCHvr™ provides for batters can also be used to train umpires. You can so clearly see the pitcher’s release, the spin, the ball motion, and the location of the strike zone. The software will even grade you.
Hmmm. I’ll bet you could make a business out of using PITCHvr™ to train umpires. Maybe.
What’s that? Do we really need more umpires? Yes – especially good ones.
Major League Baseball is looking at “robots” calling balls and strikes in the near future, but that’s not going to happen at your local ball field. At least not for a couple of decades, I’d bet.
So, if you enjoy the game, still want to participate, but don’t feel up to playing, learn to be an ump. You can do it ‘til you’re ninety.
…hey, I just noticed something, if I crouch down using PITCHvr™, I’ve got the perfect catcher’s view.
How’d you like to be a high school catcher and safely train with the 105 MPH fastballs that PITCHvr™ can fire at you? Or some ridiculously nasty 100 MPH sliders? My knees won’t take it, but if you are an aspiring catcher, it’s worth a look.