Training & Technology: “Data for Dummies”… Data Analysis Made Easier By SoftballCloud

Scanning through the spreadsheets of metrics that you get when using many of the softball data measuring programs on the market today, can be a bit like looking at a child’s calculus homework for the first time.

Although you’re on your own with the calculus issue, the answers in the fastpitch softball market have been made more understandable through the development of SoftballCloud tools making complicated data reports simple to review and understand.

Major League Baseball has been using software to interpret data for the last decade and the owners of SoftballCloud have taken that experience—at the highest level of professional sports— and made it accessible to the average softball coach, player, and team.

“Data has a story to tell; Baseball/SoftballCloud gives it a voice.”
– Sig Mejdal, Assistant General Manager, Baltimore Orioles.

SoftballCloud, as one insider put it, is a bit like “data for dummies” with pictures, charts, graphs and maps to take the data from the spreadsheet and give the user information that they can understand and use immediately.

*****

Let us start with some basic terms and define them as simply as possible.

Hitting Terms:

• Exit Velocity = How hard the ball comes off the bat when hit, measured in mph.
• Launch Angle = The angle the ball comes off the bat when hit, measured in degrees
• Carry Distance = The distance the ball traveled when hit, measured in feet.
• Flight Time = How long the ball stays in the air when hit, measured in seconds.
• O-Zone Swings/Pitches = The number of swings (or pitches) outside of the strike zone. For hitters, this represents how many balls they chased out of the zone while for pitchers, it will reflect the number of chases they were able to induce. These numbers are broken down by pitch type.
• Z-Zone Swings/Pitches = The number of swings (or pitches) in the strike zone. For hitters, this represents how many balls they swung at in the zone while for pitchers, it will reflect the number of swings against them on pitches in the zone. These numbers are broken down by pitch type.

Pitching Terms:

• Spin Rate = The rate at which the ball spins when pitched, measured in revolutions per minute.
• Spin Tilt = The direction the ball is spinning broken down by imagining a clock on the catchers’ chest protector. Spin tilt is measured in degrees.
• Pitch Speed = The speed of the pitch as it leaves the pitchers hand, measured in mph.
• Zone Velocity = The speed of the pitch as it enters the hitting zone, measured in mph.
• Pitch Break Horizontal = How much side to side break on the ball, measured in inches.
• Pitch Break Vertical = How much up and down break on the ball, measured in inches.

*****

Now, let’s take a look at how the above metrics can be seen in SoftballCloud:

In the above two images you can see Exit Velocity being shown in different ways.

• On the top image you can see a Hitter Heatmap which shows the exit velocity for each pitch a batter hit.  This map can also be sorted by individual pitches to show the hitter how she hit the drop ball for example.
• On the bottom graphic you will see a typical hitters Spray Chart that also shows Exit Velocity and the hitters tendencies by zone (meaning left, center or right side).

The chart below gives the pitcher a great look at her effectiveness in a given session by showing how often she got the hitter to chase balls out of the zone (O-Zone) or how many times she came over the plate and got the hitter to swing and miss (Z-Zone).

The hope with this new technology and array of tools: taking the definitions and seeing how they have been put in easy to use charts and graphs on SoftballCloud will make even the most leery coach, parent, or player look (and train) like a pro.

To find out more about SoftballCloud visit SoftballCloud.com