BOSTON — Recently, Toronto Blue Jays hitting coach David Popkins met John Schneider in his office and told the manager their team needed to start travelling with an iPitch machine.
Similar to Trajekt — a Canadian-developed robotic pitching system that can replicate the arsenal of every MLB pitcher with precise speed, spin, break, and release point, shooting balls out from behind a large screen projecting their delivery — an iPitch can simulate pitches of various velocities and actions to help hitters prepare for any given day’s matchup.
Saturday’s Red Sox starter Lucas Giolito, for example, works from an uber-high, over-the-top slot, throwing a 93-m.p.h. fastball with a relatively flat vertical approach angle, a tight, 87-m.p.h. slider trending into a cutter, and an 82-m.p.h. changeup that fades over a foot to his arm-side.
Punch in Giolito’s pitch characteristics and an iPitch will spit facsimiles out. A Trajekt is more realistic and immersive. But it weighs close to 1,500 pounds. The 160-pound iPitch is practically a carry-on in comparison.
And so, Schneider worked with Blue Jays staff to create room on the team charter — Toronto’s baby blue jerseys and all the equipment to go with them, plus a few sets of golf clubs, were jettisoned — to transport a machine on its current road trip.
