Ryan Pratt's Blog

     Technology in baseball has been at the forefront of arguments for the last few years and it doesn't make any sense because it will only grow the game. Most old-school baseball coaches just trust their eyes when making their evaluations of players but in reality, without technology, they are just guessing what is going on. Some people are better at guessing than others because they have trained their eyes over the years but technology will help make coaches guessing a lot more educated. I know some facilities or lower-level programs don't have the money to afford the technology but there are cheaper options that can still help in the long run if used properly.  This goes to the next point which is how technology should be used as a tool to help players get better, which is by tracking players' progress over time and seeing if they are improving. The data points with radar guns and velocity are an easy thing to track and as has been proven many times thr...

      Baseball has fallen into the trap of having way too many teams and not enough talented players. Parents are lied to or believe that if their sons play for certain teams they are guaranteed to play college baseball. This couldn't be further from the truth as you need to wow coaches with a distinguishable skill to be looked at to play college baseball. The main way to acquire that skill is not by just playing meaningless games but by being consistent with a strength and conditioning plan and eating enough calories to maintain a healthy weight. In some of the games I've gone to especially late in the fall kid's velocities on the mound are down because they are overused throughout the travel season and don't have a strategy to stay healthy. The coaches also have no clue that they are overusing pitchers throughout the fall and just think players are improving after throwing inning after inning in the fall. There is a purpose and a time for playing games but travel base...

      The biggest weakness for interest in Major League Baseball is their inability to market their best players and create more interest in the game for the younger generation. The game has such good young talent but is not promoted well. The game is being pushed forward more by outside influences like Eric Sim or the Savannah Bananas who know how to make fans interested in the game of baseball. All the old-school baseball fans complain about new-age technology or analytics ruining the game but I don't think that is true at all. All the bat flips and celebrations need to be promoted more by the people marketing professional baseball because that is showing the fun side of the game. The technology also gives kids numbers to compete against which in our video game society we live in will draw interest in the game as they can compete against themselves in aspects of the game of throwing harder and exit velocity.       The other part of baseball that I fe...