As a play by play tool presented on tv, I don't think providing launch angle, exit velocity, spin etc for any particular play is particularly useful.
I think it is useful when applied statistically. Large sample sizes can tease out temporal trends or correlations that may be hidden in more traditional statistics. I think this is true for hitting, pitching and defense. How does a guy's spin rate change after an injury or when he is fatigued? Is this guy's decline in offensive production due to bad luck or a decline in how hard or high he hits the ball? The speed, launch angle and location of a batted ball also help evaluate fielding. And I know that teams are asking questions much more creative than this. Of course there are flaws and I'm sure it can be over-analyzed, but I think any team that is not heavily using this kind of data is handicapping themselves.
|