7 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.
  - 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.
  - 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.
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.
- relwin 1y ago
  You would increase bat speed (of your swing) by moving mass from the end towards your hands. Notice most regular bats have an "ice cream" scoop on the end, lightening it slightly.
- 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.
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.
- 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
    > dangerously experimental PEDs Would you be willing to be the guinea pig?
    - next_xibalba 1y ago
      No more than I'm willing to drive a race car 200+ mph (i.e. formula 1) nor step in a boxing ring and accumulate a bunch of micro-concussions. But I'll happily tune in for the many that would be willing to do it if the money was right. Why in the world would this have any bearing on the conversation? What point are you trying to make?
      - rglullis 1y ago
        Do you watch sports because of the chance of people dying from accidents and because you know they are risking themselves, or despite it? If the former, I regret to inform you: you are a psycopath. If the latter, then please go read some Nassim Taleb and refrain from opining on what is acceptable risks for others unless you yourself are willing to pay for the consequences.
    - dylan604 1y ago
      Why would you ask someone reading HN that question? That's like asking a 'roided up athlete if they wanted to rewrite grep in Rust. Ask the athlete if they'd be willing to take PEDs if it would be allowed.

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.
- 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.
- 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.

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.

relwin 1y ago
You would increase bat speed (of your swing) by moving mass from the end towards your hands. Notice most regular bats have an "ice cream" scoop on the end, lightening it slightly.
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.

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.

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
  > dangerously experimental PEDs Would you be willing to be the guinea pig?
  - next_xibalba 1y ago
    No more than I'm willing to drive a race car 200+ mph (i.e. formula 1) nor step in a boxing ring and accumulate a bunch of micro-concussions. But I'll happily tune in for the many that would be willing to do it if the money was right. Why in the world would this have any bearing on the conversation? What point are you trying to make?
    - rglullis 1y ago
      Do you watch sports because of the chance of people dying from accidents and because you know they are risking themselves, or despite it? If the former, I regret to inform you: you are a psycopath. If the latter, then please go read some Nassim Taleb and refrain from opining on what is acceptable risks for others unless you yourself are willing to pay for the consequences.
  - dylan604 1y ago
    Why would you ask someone reading HN that question? That's like asking a 'roided up athlete if they wanted to rewrite grep in Rust. Ask the athlete if they'd be willing to take PEDs if it would be allowed.