5 ms·

If every player ends up with a bat custom tailored to their swing this will get very interesting.

deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
papercrane 1y ago
It could get even more wild. I could imagine batters having custom profiles for different pitchers. E.g. one bat for when hitting against someone who throws 100MPH four seam fastballs, and another when facing someone who throws 90 MPH cutters.
- abirch 1y ago
  I'm fine with it as long as they don't change bats in between pitches.
  - BobaFloutist 1y ago
    I mean that's part of baseball as chess (or poker), right? The batter swaps to the fastball bat, communicating that they expect a fastball. The pitcher knows, from the coach's extensive scouting, and swaps to the curve. But actually, the batter knows he struggles with that kind of fastball and was hoping to bait the curveball, which he's more confident swinging against, and is happy to use a slightly suboptimized bat.
  - Pet_Ant 1y ago
    I'm picturing a caddy standing off to the side of the batter with a bag full of bats, sizing up the last pitch and say "May I suggest the pine with the conical twist sir?"
    - maccard 1y ago
      That’s air golf at that point
    - hnburnsy 1y ago
      A caddy? How about an instant 3D printer\CNC machine?
      - bluGill 1y ago
        They are not fast enough and there is no reason to think machining ever will be.
      - mauvehaus 1y ago
        If you find yourself in Louisville, Kentucky, you can see how they make bats at the factory. At least 20 years ago, it was already pretty automated. They put the blanks on a copy lathe and turn out bats from a template. Sanding and finishing are subsequent steps.
91bananas 1y ago
FWIW they already for the most part do have bats tailored to what they like to feel in their swings as far as where weight is, where the barrel begins, what shape it is, what the grip/knob feels like. I can't say how much data goes in to deciding what is used vs what they like to feel, this feels like more of a renaissance in attempting to use data somewhere else than brilliance in design. My intuition tells me this whole thing is stupid and a fad, sure you might get slightly more mass behind the ball on perfectly barreled swings, but you get so few of those on the year already, were they already home runs of XBH on the old bat? And what are we losing on mishits with the skinny end of barrel, since after all hitting is more than just perfect swings caught in the right spot. Seems like more of a push towards feast or famine, 3 outcome baseball, which I personally just ain't a fan of.
- psunavy03 1y ago
  The placebo effect is absolutely a thing. Players still get in trouble for corking bats even though it's been proven to have no effect (or a negative one) on hitting.
- dylan604 1y ago
  That would be an interesting Show HN. A camera(s) setup with something like OpenCV and some ML processing to analyze a batter's swing, find their best bat shape, then use some sort of automated lathe to cut their bat based on the findings. Lather, rinse, repeat until you've iterated through to the "perfect" bat for that hitter.
  - jagged-chisel 1y ago
    It wouldn’t take long to have a tight selection of bats for every player to try and based on each swing, the system can predict the best bat.
    - dylan604 1y ago
      Yeah, but that's not a very HN way of doing it though. Bring in the AI, then add some crypto, and the code must be written in Rust. If there's a UI, then Next/React must be used to re-write the existing HTML/CSS only version, because that's just not even trying. Oh, and it needs to be done over a weekend
jorvi 1y ago
Every sport hits this sort of threshold where they ban optimization. Swimming did it with 'sharkskin' suits and long distance running with Nike's Alphafly and Vaporfly shoes. Maybe that's where advanced baseball bats will end up eventually.
- hnburnsy 1y ago
  >where they ban optimization Always wondered why the NFL doesn't ban sticky gloves.
  - WillPostForFood 1y ago
    They did ban "Stickum" back in 1981, a goopy adhesive players were dipping their hands/gloves in. https://s.hdnux.com/photos/56/66/25/12281186/4/960x0.webp https://s.hdnux.com/photos/56/66/25/12281186/4/960x0.webp
  - Someone 1y ago
    They are available to all teams, financially affordable, do not make the ball dirty, and they lead to more spectacular catches. Why would they consider banning them?
- nradov 1y ago
  Nike Alphafly and Vaporfly shoes are still allowed in sanctioned races but there is a 40mm limit on sole thickness (stack height). https://www.therunningweek.com/post/carbon-plate-running-shoes-do-they-really-make-you-faster https://www.therunningweek.com/post/carbon-plate-running-sho...
- next_xibalba 1y ago
  Which is so silly. I would love to watch a sport where all the athletes are on cutting edge, dangerously experimental PEDs and all the equipment is engineered to the very limits of nature. We draw oddly arbitrary lines what is and isn’t ok in sports.
  - rglullis 1y ago

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

It could get even more wild. I could imagine batters having custom profiles for different pitchers. E.g. one bat for when hitting against someone who throws 100MPH four seam fastballs, and another when facing someone who throws 90 MPH cutters.

abirch 1y ago
I'm fine with it as long as they don't change bats in between pitches.
- BobaFloutist 1y ago
  I mean that's part of baseball as chess (or poker), right? The batter swaps to the fastball bat, communicating that they expect a fastball. The pitcher knows, from the coach's extensive scouting, and swaps to the curve. But actually, the batter knows he struggles with that kind of fastball and was hoping to bait the curveball, which he's more confident swinging against, and is happy to use a slightly suboptimized bat.
- Pet_Ant 1y ago
  I'm picturing a caddy standing off to the side of the batter with a bag full of bats, sizing up the last pitch and say "May I suggest the pine with the conical twist sir?"
  - maccard 1y ago
    That’s air golf at that point
  - hnburnsy 1y ago
    A caddy? How about an instant 3D printer\CNC machine?
    - bluGill 1y ago
      They are not fast enough and there is no reason to think machining ever will be.
    - mauvehaus 1y ago
      If you find yourself in Louisville, Kentucky, you can see how they make bats at the factory. At least 20 years ago, it was already pretty automated. They put the blanks on a copy lathe and turn out bats from a template. Sanding and finishing are subsequent steps.

91bananas 1y ago

FWIW they already for the most part do have bats tailored to what they like to feel in their swings as far as where weight is, where the barrel begins, what shape it is, what the grip/knob feels like. I can't say how much data goes in to deciding what is used vs what they like to feel, this feels like more of a renaissance in attempting to use data somewhere else than brilliance in design. My intuition tells me this whole thing is stupid and a fad, sure you might get slightly more mass behind the ball on perfectly barreled swings, but you get so few of those on the year already, were they already home runs of XBH on the old bat? And what are we losing on mishits with the skinny end of barrel, since after all hitting is more than just perfect swings caught in the right spot. Seems like more of a push towards feast or famine, 3 outcome baseball, which I personally just ain't a fan of.

psunavy03 1y ago
The placebo effect is absolutely a thing. Players still get in trouble for corking bats even though it's been proven to have no effect (or a negative one) on hitting.
dylan604 1y ago
That would be an interesting Show HN. A camera(s) setup with something like OpenCV and some ML processing to analyze a batter's swing, find their best bat shape, then use some sort of automated lathe to cut their bat based on the findings. Lather, rinse, repeat until you've iterated through to the "perfect" bat for that hitter.
- jagged-chisel 1y ago
  It wouldn’t take long to have a tight selection of bats for every player to try and based on each swing, the system can predict the best bat.
  - dylan604 1y ago
    Yeah, but that's not a very HN way of doing it though. Bring in the AI, then add some crypto, and the code must be written in Rust. If there's a UI, then Next/React must be used to re-write the existing HTML/CSS only version, because that's just not even trying. Oh, and it needs to be done over a weekend

jorvi 1y ago

Every sport hits this sort of threshold where they ban optimization. Swimming did it with 'sharkskin' suits and long distance running with Nike's Alphafly and Vaporfly shoes. Maybe that's where advanced baseball bats will end up eventually.

hnburnsy 1y ago
>where they ban optimization Always wondered why the NFL doesn't ban sticky gloves.
- WillPostForFood 1y ago
  They did ban "Stickum" back in 1981, a goopy adhesive players were dipping their hands/gloves in. https://s.hdnux.com/photos/56/66/25/12281186/4/960x0.webp https://s.hdnux.com/photos/56/66/25/12281186/4/960x0.webp
- Someone 1y ago
  They are available to all teams, financially affordable, do not make the ball dirty, and they lead to more spectacular catches. Why would they consider banning them?
nradov 1y ago
Nike Alphafly and Vaporfly shoes are still allowed in sanctioned races but there is a 40mm limit on sole thickness (stack height). https://www.therunningweek.com/post/carbon-plate-running-shoes-do-they-really-make-you-faster https://www.therunningweek.com/post/carbon-plate-running-sho...
next_xibalba 1y ago
Which is so silly. I would love to watch a sport where all the athletes are on cutting edge, dangerously experimental PEDs and all the equipment is engineered to the very limits of nature. We draw oddly arbitrary lines what is and isn’t ok in sports.
- rglullis 1y ago