MLBAM’s New Tracking Technology Honored

MLBAM’s new tracking technology, set to debut across all 30 Major League Baseball ballparks for Opening Day, received the highest honor at the 2015 MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference when it was presented with the Alpha Award for Best Analytics Innovation/Technology this past Saturday at the conclusion of the two-day event. The Alpha Awards are given to recognize the best use of analytics in sports, as selected by the conference’s advisory board.
The tracking technology originally debuted for fans during the 2014 MLB season at three ballparks, Citi Field, Miller Park and Target Field. Its first-ever live data tracking video stream of last year’s Home Run Derby drew 800,000 live video streams. Subsequently, the technology rolled out to the ballparks of all four League Championship Series participants for the LCS and World Series.

In its category, MLBAM’s tracking technology bested the other three finalists – SAP Match Insights, Zebra MotionWorks and Vantage Sports – for the honor. The New York-based technology company also became the first professional sports league property to win this prestigious award in analytics innovation and technology.