| With the game comes the gear, as technology | | | | light weight and durable. An oldie- but- goody is the |
| advances into the 21st century so does technological | | | | Digital Scout, first deemed to be the official handheld |
| baseball products. There are some extremely | | | | statistical software in 2002. This software enables |
| interesting baseball products that are being produced | | | | both coaches and fans to track statistical and |
| year after year. From baseball gear, to protection, to | | | | scouting data on a handheld device that uses point |
| improving your swing, protecting equipment and | | | | -and-touch technology. Using the Personal Digital |
| memorabilia, the coming years promise great | | | | Assistant (PDA) as its platform this software is great |
| technological advances and some old favorites. Each | | | | for collecting player and team performance and even |
| praised for the high quality, competitive pricing, and | | | | report printing. |
| innovative designs. Here is a rundown on some of | | | | But with everything that computers can do, baseball |
| the products that you can expect to see now and in | | | | purists argue that technology takes from the human |
| the future. | | | | aspect of the game. While others say that it only |
| Major League Baseball is advancing into the digital age | | | | enhances statistical data and adds accuracy and |
| by testing and using technologies to assist in helping | | | | efficiency in performance monitoring. Which ever way |
| teams, umpires, and individual players achieve | | | | you lean technological advances in baseball are an |
| optimum performance. Take for example the | | | | asset that allows teams to organize their information |
| Umpire Information System (UIS) that | | | | without any the real threat of replacing managers, |
| tracks the baseball from the pitcher's hand all the | | | | coaches, scouts, or players by computers. |
| way until it crosses the plate. This innovative product | | | | The ever popular video analysis adds that special |
| borrows technology from the United States military | | | | aspect of real-time playback and the ability to review |
| missile tracking devices, monitoring pitch location and | | | | from many different angles the player's style or |
| trajectory that the umpire holds on a laptop | | | | techniques. Panasonic had developed a video coaching |
| computer. Then there is the SportMaster Pro device | | | | system with the capacity to archive 400 hours or |
| that works in tracking pitch- by- pitch and handles | | | | more of video used by coaches to search, view, and |
| databases of the pitchers, batter performance, and | | | | compare players. It's going to be very interesting to |
| types of pitches thrown. This handy little gadget | | | | watch and wait to see what we can think of next. |
| operates by the use of a touch-screen tablet and is | | | | |