Pitch Charting

[KOlimpia]

Fantastic program, I have been using Turbo Stats for several years and with 2.0 iScore has surpassed on several levels. One thing I would like to see would be a way to chart pitches during a bullpen. We chart every pitch thrown in bullpens during practice and before a game and it would be nice to get rid of all the paper.

Thanks

[FTMSupport]

We have this on our list for future enhancements. Is this something you would want to do as part of iScore itself? You are tracking pitches pre-game and want to include those warm up pitches? Or is this more of a separate process where you are looking to just track pitcher performance? We are just wondering because one thing we have been considering creating is just a standalone pitch tracking application.

[plivengood]

I second the motion for s stand-alone pitch tracking/charting application.

I've been thinking about this for a bit now, triggered by a couple of threads in this section of the forum. I agree with the guy who suggested (at least for noobs) that there may be so much functionality in iScore that it is getting to be difficult for one guy to adequately and accurately do it all, and it would be nice to have some way to merge it all (whether sharing databases or being able to upload to any designated account/website and tying information created on different devices to the same game on a single FTM website). I've also suggested myself that some enhance ability to create speckle charts where your reports could include individual batter vs. pitcher, by AB, with pitch type and results (swing-and-miss, foul, in-play/out or hit, and what kind of hit) by count also shown, as this is an excellent teaching tool for coaches to SHOW batters where they have success and where they have failure, both within (and outside of) the zone and how much the count matters.

I still think that is an extremely important function, but I also realize that it is FAR too much to include in even the iScore PRO version and expect any one person to be able to do consistently *while also scoring the game.* This should be a separate program, not only because it probably takes a second person to do the job right, but also because it would respresent a second opportunity for FTM to make money on added functionality. I'd bet the markets overlap a lot for scoring and pitch/hit charting, but there will also be an *added* market for people who are perfectly happy to score the old-fashioned way but are looking for a more efficient way to chart.


To me, the key to all this is to make sure there is a way to merge/share across devices onto one FTM website so all information can be tied to one game access in one place.

[Greenwood]

I would be very interested in the pitching program as well. I'd love to see location charts separated by pitch type, counts and even innings would be amazing. With the ability to print them out. I also have been using turbo stats for many years and the one advantage I've seen has been selecting pitch type and location. I was curious why you have the selection in the order its in. It seems so unnatural to go back after a hit or a play to put it the location and type. I've found turbo stats much easier to use picking the pitch type and location then the play. I think it would be much easier to use if you could choose pitch type, ball or strike, location, then play outcome. Makes scoring much easier during the game. Almost inputting the events in order rather than going back after the outcome of the play.

[FTMSupport]

If we do create a pitch tracking application, we will likely make entering the pitch information come first. The reason we don't do it with iScore is the pitch details are actually optional information (some people score without tracking individual pitch information), and if we made it come first, it would become a required entry. By having you input the play first, then the pitch information, you can make sure to capture the main play (which is the core functionality of iScore), then you can enter the pitch information for that play if you would like.

With a pitch tracking application, pitching becomes the core functionality, so we would most likely change the order.

[plivengood]

I agree with Greenwood about the order seeming unnatural, but I've seen FTM's explanation for it before:

If you were required to input pitch location/type (and speed if you have it) before you input the play, then all those who don't care to input pitch charting information would be stuck doing so or pushing extra buttons to override that.

Yet another reason to separate out the programs, IMO, for those of us interested in pitch charting. The only downside would be that teams have to find more than one sucker to score/chart.

[Chapin3]

What order do we put the type of pitch, location and action of the pitch. Is it type of pitch then "strike" or "ball" then "in play" then "location."

Plus the little pitch type column is so tight. Can you have it where the type of pitch can be customized for each pitcher. ie.... most pitchers have three pitching the use regularly. Fastball change or curve then maybe slider, or it is a knuckleball pitcher. Do we need all pitch types shown all the time?

[FTMSupport]

The order does not matter --- you can enter the information in whatever order you like, and it gets updated for the pitch that just took place. If you accidentally click Fast Ball, you can just click Curve Ball and it will immediately update.

We will be allowing customizing of the pitches per pitcher in a future release. There are some fastpitch softball pitch types that are not even listed right now, so this would allow that as well.

[njcoach613]

We actually use the iScore and edgehq.com combination to capture this practice data. If you search for edgehq in the app store, the edge guys have created two different apps for charting cage and bullpen sessions. It's actually pretty neat because it links to a dashboarding online tool where you can consolidate player data and view where our players are struggling/hitting well.

edgeHQ actually also grabs the game/scrimmage data from iScore for their main site which is great for us to show players visuals and spit out excel reports.