TrackMan technology for the 2022 baseball season – What changes will it bring?

Recent reports hitting the web reveal that the 2022 baseball season will use a new technology. The TrackMan technology will be used to track pitches during SEC baseball games this season. This technology will help to ascertain the accuracy of the ball and strike calls by Umpires. Simply put, this technology is coming to improve the quality of the game. Furthermore, SEC tournaments and conference games will use this technology. The ball-strike efficiency of SEC umpires will significantly improve with the TrackMan technology.

This technology uses Optically Enhanced Radar Tracking (OERT) to understand the techniques for monitoring in baseball games. Across the U.S., there are 12 SEC faculties and over 120 faculties that use the TrackMan V3 system. After learning the game, TrackMan will then use the knowledge to certain the accuracy by SEC umpires.

SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said

“The SEC has been a leader in using technology for evaluating and improving officiating in all sports, including the use of centralized or collaborative replay in football, men’s and women’s basketball, baseball, and now softball,”…“This is another innovative step to improving the accuracy and performance of SEC officiating.”

James Snikeris, NCAA account supervisor for TrackMan added

“TrackMan has been tracking SEC games for nearly 10 years and we are very proud to expand our relationship with the leading conference in college baseball to provide accurate data in the training, education, and evaluation of SEC umpires’ performance,” 

All 30 Major League Baseball groups will make use of TrackMan technology. In addition, about 500 stadiums around the world also have this technology. Other games like prime beginner organizations and distinguished collegiate summer time leagues will also use this technology.

No doubt, the technology is innovative and it will improve the efficiency and accuracy of officiating.

How does TrackMan technology actually work?

This technology measures the ball flight data, to do this, it uses a 3-D doppler radar. TrackMan has been in testing for a few years. Back in 2019, MLB installed TrackMan at Atlantic League stadiums for the first trial. However, MLB had to replace TrackMan’s radar system with Hawk-Eye’s optical cameras. The latter will call balls and strikes in Triple-A games this season. It will also challenge calls in Low-A.

Nevertheless, TrackMan will still acquire pitch data which will help the SEC to train, evaluate and improve the performance of human umpires. Of course, the wide application of TrackMan’s technology makes it more desirable. It is also used by college baseball programs to evaluate potential high school recruits.