What Is HitTrax And How Can It Benefit You?

Today we are going to dive in and answer the question, “what is HitTrax?”. You may have seen a few ads, heard about it at baseball practice or watched a few HitTrax YouTube videos.

In baseball, a 1,000 batting average is perfection. That’s why we say we’re “batting a thousand” if we do everything right while performing a task.

But a 3.00 batting average is considered superb. That means you can fail 70% of the time and you’re still one of the best and that’s why hitting a baseball is arguably the hardest thing in sport.

But why is it so hard? Here’s the deal:

First, the speed of the pitch. The average fastball comes at you well over 90 miles per hour,  and it’s thrown from less than 60 feet away. That gives the batter about 150 milliseconds to decide whether to swing. On top of that, the ball is only in the hitting zone for less than 10 milliseconds. That’s the amount of time that the ball is in an area where a batter can make contact.

Adding to the difficulty is that you have a round ball and you’re trying to hit it with a round piece of wood, so the margin of error for making solid contact is roughly the width of your phone’s SIM card.

An engineering professor compared it to “trying to hit a bullet with a bullet.” So how do batters do that? The same professor says it’s not so much about how fast a batter can swing as it is about how fast he can stop himself from swinging at pitches he knows he’s not likely to hit. That comes with the ability to identify pitches. Which, again, a batter has about 150 milliseconds to do. That’s something that comes with experience but that still doesn’t make it easy.

One more piece of evidence that hitting a baseball is the hardest thing in sports: 

Michael Jordan, considered one of the greatest athletes of all time, couldn’t do it. So how does a baseball (or softball) player gain mastery in their swing? A simple answer would be “proper coaching,” but sometimes it takes a little more than verbal instruction for players to accurately pinpoint their strengths and weaknesses on the ballfield. That’s why technicians at In Motion Systems developed the HitTrax data capture and simulator system.

What is HitTrax?

Launched in 2013, HitTrax is the first and only baseball simulator on the market. It offers players personalized statistics helping them become more in tune with their playing techniques when practicing in an indoor training environment. It does this by transforming any battering cage into a high-tech analytics and stats center enabling players to enhance their hitting and pitching styles before stepping on the playing field.

What are the Benefits?

As well as individual players being able to see statistics, coaches are also able to capture real-time videos to deconstruct the measured result of the player’s swing. Using the system’s latest addition, a high-speed video capture option called the VCAM (Video Capture and Analysis Module), coaches are able to put two videos next to each other so they can visually compare and contrast a player’s technique. Coaches can point out to players what their swing execution looks like during an optimal at-bat as opposed to a weak grounder to shortstop.

Baseball and softball players of ages 4+ and abilities can increase their technique and skills using the HitTrax system and have the added element of competition and instant evaluations to facilitate progress.

Now let’s review some of the basics and the ways HitTrax aids coaches to assess their hitters:

  • Basic Metrics
  • Spray Charts
  • Depth of Contact
  • Strike Zone

Basic Metrics

Exit Velocity

There are two ways to evaluate EV and assess a player with HitTrax:

  • Peak EV is the hardest hit ball that the athlete attains in a practice. This is a good barometer of raw power and capacity to hit the ball hard without regard to the ball’s direction. Principally, it is a gauge on a player’s potential at any given time.
  • Average EV is an ideal way to evaluate how regularly the athlete hits the ball hard. In the best case scenario, the average should be as close to the peak EV as possible. In other words, if a hitter has a peak velocity of 95 mph, but an average exit velocity of 80 mph, this would imply an athlete that has a lot of mishits and weak efforts, notwithstanding possessing the ability to hit the ball hard.
Launch Angle (LA)

While launch angle is basically an offshoot of the swing, bat path, and timing, it is a key metric to consider when evaluating batted ball output. An athlete may be able to hit a ball hard, but it is important that the athlete hit the ball at ideal trajectories to optimize productivity.

For example, an athlete may hit a ball (let’s say 90-100 mph with relative regularity), but if the launch angle for batted balls is low, the hitter is essentially hitting a lot of ground balls. Now while these balls have a higher propensity to go through the infield for base hits, this athlete is not realizing their power potential.

Hard Hit Balls (HHBs)

HitTrax identifies hard hit balls as any ball within 90% of the player’s peak EV. So if a player’s peak EV is 100 mph, any ball hit 90 mph or harder would be considered a HHB. It is important to note that even for balls that fall slightly under the HHB threshold HitTrax can still produce positive outcomes as these are batted balls (with proper launch angle) that likely fall in front or between outfielders.

Spray Charts

Spray charts are a great tool to ascertain a player’s ability to produce quality batted balls to all parts of the field:

  • Pull Side
  • Middle 
  • Opposite

While the optimal spray chart would have an even balance between balls hit to the left side of the field, center, and right, this is generally not the case, even with Major League ballplayers. Look at any big leaguer’s spray chart (notably on home runs or extra base hits) and you will see that most players have a “tunnel” where they hit the ball the hardest and attain higher slugging numbers. Nonetheless, with HitTrax you can analyze an athlete’s tendencies and if a session indicates a low capability to use the entire field you will have the tools to make swing improvements.

Depth of Contact

Evaluating depth of contact with HitTrax is a great way to critique whether hitters are distinguishing between incoming pitches. It also reveals the window of timing a hitter has to contact the ball. Generally speaking, balls on the inner third should be contacted more out front, balls in the middle of the plate a bit deeper, and pitches on the outer third even deeper. But this is dependent on the athlete’s window of contact. A small window means less room for adjustability, a smaller opportunity to reach flush contact, and, in the end, less plate coverage.

Strike Zone

Strike zone data aids in examining various player proclivities from exit velocity to swing selections. It also indicates a hitter’s strengths and weaknesses throughout the zone. HitTrax data breaks up the strike zone into 13 sections, 9 inside the zone and the 4 areas outside the corners/edge.

There are an assortment of ways to dissect the strike zone, including (among others) exit velocity, launch angle, hard hit balls, and depth of contact. Once again, identifying where strengths and weaknesses lay in terms of batted ball productivity, the zone may expose a mechanical or movement defect in the hitter’s swing.

Strike zone charts help direct a hitter’s plan as they ready for gameplay. By using data from HitTrax, a player can make swing decisions by attacking pitches with the highest likelihood to produce an effective batted ball.

Pitching

Pitchers can also enhance their skill set by monitoring their pitch velocity, pitch location, percentage of strikes, and performance of pitch types to name a few.

Data Storage

All of the player statistics are immediately uploaded to the cloud and then used to create national leaderboards on the HitTrax Stats Center website. The national and regional leaderboards are segmented by age group and designed to promote players and facilities in which they train.

Back in the batting cage, the HitTrax system also offers percentile rankings for all players. For example if you are in a 16U age group you can see how you stack up against everyone in that group that uses HitTrax. On the leaderboards only the top 25 from each age group in each region is listed. With the percentile rankings, an athlete not in the top 25 can still find their rank whether they are in the 50th or 75th percentile for their age group.

Entertainment

To keep young athletes engaged, the HitTrax simulator contains a game engine built in home run derbies, tournaments, hitting leagues, quality hit contests, and even has imagery of Major League ballparks so players can simulate playing in different stadiums. These features allow facilities and coaches to keep players active all year round.

FAQ

Is HitTrax Accurate?

According to TechGraphs, the speeds reported by the HitTrax system are accurate to within one mile per hour, as compared with conventional radar guns. Distances reported are accurate to within five per cent of the actual distance as measured manually with a tape measure.

How long does HitTrax store the data?

Forever. Once you set up your profile, any statistics you generate on the software will be stored in the cloud. Also, each individual session will be stored.

How do you get a copy of your hitting reports?

Upon finishing a session, all the generated data is available for review. Using the easy tools built into the software, you can produce the reports you wish to see and email them to yourself or anyone else (hitting instructor, college coach, etc.). If you forget, no worries. Each individual session is saved so you can go back later through your profile and reproduce a desired report from any session you choose.

Photo Owned By HitTrax

Can I hit without saving the data to my profile?

Yes. This would be done inside of the Entertainment mode on the software. You can take a normal BP that’s similar to a workout session, hit in a home run derby, or even play in a simulated two-inning game with friends. When in Entertainment mode, none of the data will be saved for any use once the session is finished.

A Little Background

HitTrax was officially launched in 2013 and has 16,000 registered users throughout North America. The University of Notre Dame was the first collegiate team to implement HitTrax, setting the trend for other universities, athletic facilities, and professional leagues to utilize it.

HitTrax is a great training tool for us here at the Zone. Not only does it guide the focus for development, but it demonstrates to players what their strengths are and unquestionably strengthens an athlete’s offensive arsenal at the plate. A ubiquitous saying in the sports world is “ball don’t lie.” The data from HitTrax, if interpreted proficiently, can give irrefutable truths about what transpires when a hitter makes contact.

Just think, the only HitTrax simulator in the area is located in Bluffton, SC. If you have any questions or want to book a session call us at (843) 836-3701 or fill out a contact form. Your batting average will thank you.

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