Pitch-tracking Era (since 2008)

Definition

The pitch-tracking era covers 2008 to the present -- the time period for which pitch type and pitch velocity data is available for Major League games.

Major League Baseball introduced the first real-time automated pitch classification system during the 2006 postseason, and that technology was installed in all 30 MLB ballparks for the start of the 2008 regular season, marking the beginning of the pitch-tracking era.

From that time onward, both pitch types and pitch velocities have been tracked MLB-wide. Since 2008, and particularly since the launch of Statcast in 2015, "pitch tracking" has expanded to include data like spin rate, vertical and horizontal movement, pitcher release points and more.

Pitch tracking allows baseball fans to see every pitcher's arsenal, and the characteristics of all the pitch types within that arsenal. MLB's pitch type classifications include multiple types of fastballs (four-seamers, sinkers and cutters), breaking balls (curveballs, sliders, sweepers, slurves and knuckleballs) and offspeed pitches (changeups, splitters, forkballs and screwballs).

From 2008 until 2015, pitch tracking data was provided by the PITCHf/x tracking system. In 2015, Statcast technology was installed in all 30 MLB ballparks, and Statcast is now used by Major League Baseball for all pitch, hit and player tracking (although pitch velocities still came from PITCHf/x until the 2017 season).

Statcast used Trackman radar for pitch tracking through the 2019 season, and has used Hawk-Eye high-speed cameras for pitch tracking from 2020 through the present.