SINTON, Texas — The UIL high school baseball playoffs start this week and the Sinton Pirates have advanced again in 4A. At this point of the season there have been many home games, but this year there's a new addition in Sinton. A black square above the home plate stands - the Trackman.
"Right now we're hitting batting practice near the backhand towards the back end," Sinton baseball head coach Adrian Alaniz said. "We have have a release speed of our coach throwing 47 miles per hour. Exit speeds are off the bat."
Instant analytics for pitching and hitting are available for the Sinton baseball team this season. The Pirates are 1 of 10 high school programs in the nation, the only one in Texas, selected for the Trackman pilot program.
"Some of the things that we look at is the those exit velos, the velocities and maybe where a kid like Aidan Moody where he's pitching and he's been a high velo kid," Alaniz said. "How is his velo at the end of the game versus where he started the game, so those are all things we're still being able to give back to those kids."
While in-game statistics are also collected, the numbers can only be analyzed after the game according to UIL rules. Batting data includes a spray chart of their hits on the field as well as their hot and cold locations in the strike zone.
"There was a game we had Kash Wood hit a home run and the exit velo was 104.8 which is pretty good for a high school kid," Alaniz said. "The distance registered on that 343."
"It's always a fun thing seeing how hard you can hit the ball and it also has a video to where you can see where your swing path is and how well you're hitting the ball," Sinton junior first baseman Kash Wood said.
The Trackman is not only beneficial for the athletes, but also Sinton senior athletic trainer Lauren Seidel. She plans on studying sports psychology, and loves seeing how players react to the analytics.
"Seeing like I was saying how Kash got a 98 (mph velocity) I can see his positive reaction that 'oh cool I got a 98,'" Seidel said. "Whenever he got a 60 I can be like well you got a 60, but it's okay. It has really influenced my career and what I want to do."
The future of baseball is leaning toward technology, a pilot program system that Sinton will be able to use for free for five years.
"Well you can ask some of the guys that were on our team last year because they wish they would have had it," Alaniz said. "You know Blake (Mitchell), Jaquae (Stewart) and all of those guys. Even from the pitchers like Braeden Brown it gives you everything you need to know as far as how effective you are."
