Following Major League Baseball With ABS Innovation
Tim Bennett, The Legacy League Commissioner, says that while the League is young, it is definitely growing and moving in the right direction.
Following yesterday's visit from Tyrone Brooks, the 31-year veteran who works in the MLB Commissioner's office as the Sr. Dir. of Workforce Development, the League now announces that it has installed and will implement the new WIN Reality Smart Field ABS system. This system will capture 35 game metrics and 88 ball metrics, most importantly, detecting balls and strikes during live game action.
Robert Holloway, the League's Director of Umpires with over 35 years of officiating experience, says they will use this system as a "teaching tool". They will use it for the first 4 innings of each 7-inning game, relying 100% on the ABS to make all ball-and-strike calls. They will then revert to having the home-plate umpire call balls and strikes for the remainder of the game, beginning in the fifth inning, allowing each umpire to be graded against the system for accuracy.
Having the LED detection screen in full view for all players and umpires allows each individual to begin developing their craft—whether that's pitching, catching, or umpiring—on a pitch-by-pitch basis.
Clint Johnson and Josh Clarke, the Legacy League's Directors of Player Development, both said that they see this as a step in the right direction. "This is where the game is going, and it's where we will follow. We want to prepare these young men and women to be Major League ready, whether on or off the field. Having this WIN Reality technology, along with the expertise of Mr. Brooks from the MLB Commissioner's office, to support our league participants demonstrates our commitment to fully developing our young men and women for the future."
Eric Sexton, representing WIN Reality and SmartPark Technology, said, "We're proud to bring on-field performance metrics and ABS capabilities to the next generation of players, coaches, umpires, and fans. SmartPark was built to democratize the same data-driven precision seen at the highest level of the game, and the Legacy League is the perfect partner to showcase its full capabilities. Their focus on development is exactly what this technology was designed to support - when every pitch tells a story, coaches, players, umpires, and front-office analysts can grow faster, smarter, and with confidence."
Bennett says that having former Major League Baseball Hall of Famers and All-Stars compels the Legacy League to stay cutting edge and in lock-step with Major League Baseball in all ways possible in giving the league’s participants the best opportunities on and off the field, whether it’s playing the game or learning to operate these new technologies being implemented into the game.