FanShot

Field F/X and Control F/X: Moneyball 2.0 and the Giants' lead

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Hat tip to Tangotiger who posted this on his blog. Is this Bowtie's legacy? Part of the reason he got fired? If so, I sure hope the ownership group is at least putting in the money to hire analysts and take advantage of the bounty of info offered by this system. "In stealth mode, the Giants are now able to track the ball in the opposite direction. Fieldf/x, which the Giants are fully deploying for the first time this year, tracks the hit ball and the defensive players as they react to it. For the first time since baseball statistics have been kept — we are talking 150 years — baseball statisticians will soon have objective data on how quickly fielders react to balls in play, how fast they get to the ball, and the accuracy and location of their throws. On deck for the Giants: Controlf/x, which shows precisely where a pitch goes in relation to the spot where the catcher sets the target. Some catchers are better at framing a pitch for the umpires, Adams said, resulting in more strike calls, which in turn leads to as many as 20 extra outs a season. It does not sound like much, but it equates to two extra wins a season and potentially millions of dollars in extra revenue."