Every year, baseball coaches from across the globe converge on a convention floor (and the bar) to learn more about baseball and catch up. Some are looking for jobs, to improve their skills, but one of the key things is the trade show. You might not know how many bat manufacturers there are, or how many jersey makers, or the newest thing in video analysis, but walk around for an hour and you’ll see them all.
Of course, I was hanging out with the Clutch Factor and Kinetic Arm crews, plus seeing great people like Dr. Tom House, Alan Jaeger, Tracy Hayes, Kyle Boddy, Casey Mulholland, and Garrison Roy, as well as meeting new ones. Sitting down to dinner with Brittany Dowling always teaches me something as well.
Usually, there’s one or two standout products, but this year, not many had a buzz. The introduction of Armored Heat got a couple mentions, as well as Mustard’s impending release of a football module and the second version of the Kinetic Arm (which you already knew about.) This seemed more a consolidation year for a lot of companies, with the last year of uncertainty and inflation holding back big developments. There’s no - none, zero - adoption of VR aside from a handful of early adopters and the video revolution is coming over the next few years in baseball.
While a lot of collegiate programs already have some video system in for video replay, we’re going to see more advanced systems come in. There’s something of a hold while they wait to see if MLB rule changes settle and that they look towards an automatic ball/strike (ABS, or robo-ump) in the next few years. The cost and usability of HawkEye isn’t going to work for most college programs, let alone high schools, so we’ll have to see who comes up with the goldilocks system on cost, accuracy and usability.
There aren’t usually medical devices here - those usually show up at the NATA and APTA conventions, because you really don’t want coaches using anything more than a Marc Pro, while things like Whole Body EMS and BFR rigs are starting to mainstream.
I did see Keenan Long and Koby Close on the floor, though they didn’t have a booth. Instead, they announced that Longball Labs is working with a number of bat manufacturers, taking their bat selection technology a step further. For those of you that read The Science of Baseball, you’ll know LongBall was Chapter 2 and the one where I feel like I learned the most.
I also had the chance to see Dr. Ryan Crotin and the ArmCare.com crew put on their presentation. They’re building community as well as users of their dynamometer testing, so I’m curious to see where this goes over the next couple years. They’re also building a lot of education, which is tough, but also necessary for a product that has such a high sensitivity to user error. (Believe me, I can’t tell you how many times at Motus we had people put in sensors upside down.)
Of course, over at Clutch Factor’s booth, there’s some very interesting stuff starting to happen as they grow their partnerships. I was excited to see how many coaches would listen to the pitch and just ‘got it’. For an intangible product that measures an intangible trait, that’s often a tough sell, but there’s exciting times coming beyond the collegiate partners.
I did hear a couple very interesting upcoming devices and ideas, especially around the idea of the upcoming minor league outsourcing. Everyone is waiting on a final CBA before they chase that particular rainbow, but the expectation is that it’s coming pretty fast. I think 2024 will be a much more innovative show. That one’s in Dallas, as ABCA continues its tour of the Gaylord resorts, so maybe I’ll see you there.