WASHINGTON — A Cubs analyst calls up Madison Bumgarner on the computer stationed next to the batting tunnel within the bowels of Wrigley Field. The projection screen on the other end of the hitting lane fills up with an image of Bumgarner, the 6-foot-4, 257-pound pitcher now in a Diamondbacks uniform after winning three World Series rings as a Giant. The inputted data adjusts the pitching robot into Bumgarner’s extreme left-handed arm slot. The balls fired from the Trajekt Arc machine match the unique pitch characteristics of Bumgarner’s entire repertoire, replicating his velocity and spin rate.
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“It’s fucking unbelievable,” one Cubs official said.
The idea is to give Cubs hitters a sneak preview before they step into the batter’s box for real at Wrigley Field, and shrink the distance to the third time through the order, when the numbers show that starting pitchers typically lose their effectiveness. Cubs personnel did not want to broadcast the team’s partnership with Trajekt Sports, a Canadian tech company, believing it to be a competitive advantage. Those same officials are also self-aware enough to not overhype a piece of equipment while the Cubs are slogging through a rebuilding season at the major-league level.
Still, this represents a new frontier for an organization that lost some of its edge after the 2016 World Series. The Cubs thought enough of the technology to highlight it during their presentation to Seiya Suzuki before the Japanese outfielder signed his five-year, $85 million contract. The Cubs have come a long way from their old clubhouse in the pre-renovated Wrigley Field, where a batting tee was stored on top of a refrigerator and a piece of wood was used to protect the TV from pinch-hitters who were warming up and taking swings.
The Cubs are prohibited from using the Trajekt Arc machine during games, per Major League Baseball regulations, which specify that MLB-supplied dugout iPads are the only permitted source for in-game video for on-field personnel. During games, on-field personnel are also not permitted to use electronic devices that are capable of transmitting a signal, according to a league source.
Joshua Pope, a co-founder of Trajekt Sports, told Yahoo! Sports that seven major-league clubs have placed orders for a total of nine machines. The New York Post previously identified the Mets as one of those teams, making an investment that reflects one of Steve Cohen’s priorities as an owner. The Cubs used a prototype version of the machine last year at their Arizona training complex, according to sources familiar with the set-up, and now have three updated machines in use at Wrigley Field, Triple-A Iowa and the Mesa facility. That arrangement is part of a multiyear exclusive agreement with Trajekt Sports that makes the Cubs the only National League Central team with access to the technology right now.
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Again, the Cubs don’t have everything figured out because they’re a 47-67 team after Monday night’s 5-4 loss at Nationals Park. President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer and manager David Ross have identified the lineup’s lack of power as a real weakness that needs to be addressed this winter. The organization’s hitting infrastructure is probably closer to the point where the organization’s pitching infrastructure was a few years ago, before a top-to-bottom overhaul and step-by-step process started churning out quality major-league relievers.
One indicator figures to be the growth of the hitting prospects received in the deals that shipped out Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant and Javier Báez at last year’s trade deadline. Far more than “The Cubs Way” of a decade ago, this farm system is a tech-savvy, data-driven environment, which so far lacks the same kind of star power at the upper levels of the minor leagues.
Cubs players and staffers, who were granted anonymity to discuss an initiative that has been shielded from public view, largely described Trajekt Arc as a valuable resource. Among the impressions: It’s useful to be able to track game-like pitches and study the timing of a pitcher’s motion from either the wind-up or the stretch. There are limits because a hitter can reasonably take only so many max-effort swings against high-level velocity before going out and performing each night. Even a player who had reservations about making it part of his routine was blown away by the technology, the ability to replicate release points and specific pitches for any pitcher with an available data profile.
The numbers don’t lie: The first time through the order across the majors this season, pitchers have a 3.55 ERA while hitters have a .690 OPS. The third time through the order across the majors this season, pitchers have a 5.50 ERA while hitters have a .774 OPS.
A pitching robot can’t fast forward the game and turn the second time through the order into the third time. The art of hitting involves a mental approach and making adjustments within each at-bat because you don’t know what’s coming next. But at least innovations like Trajekt Arc are the beginning of a counterbalance to all the developments that have helped pitchers in recent years.
(Photo of Seiya Suzuki: Darren Yamashita / USA Today)
