Moose Jaw Millers Alumni Association members Taylor Elder and Chad Topp presented a cheque for $2,500 to Sowden Flanagan Baseball Training on Thursday for the purchase of a new HitTrax baseball training system, which when installed will bring a massive upgrade to the local facility’s offerings.
“It’s an advanced video analysis system for hitting, pitching all that kind of stuff,” explained Shane Sowden, co-owner of Sowden Flanagan Training. “Basically, the kids can see themselves on the screen, they can track themselves and their throwing motions and all that fun stuff, and it’s more or less a giant live video game for baseball players.”
The system is similar to that seen with indoor golf simulators, using tracking cameras to feed information into a computer system to offer feedback. And, oh, the feedback.
HitTrax can track virtually every aspect of hitting and pitching, from swing speed and launch angle at the plate to arm angle and pitch speed on the mound. Fielders can even track how quickly they get rid of the ball and how efficient their throws are.
All that information can be uploaded and reviewed and even used to help move on in the sport.
“You can can use it for training aspects and get as technical as you want with it,” Sowden said. “All the kids have accounts and information sent to them at home and the parents can be e-mailed video, so it’s great for the older kids and recruiting and those sorts of things.”
Then there’s fun stuff: a full selection of Major League baseball stadiums can be uploaded to the system, allowing players to play simulated games among themselves and even other teams.
“Swift Current has one, Regina has one, we can just call them up and say ‘hey, we’re down here at 7, wanna play?’,” Sowden said. “It’s literally a live video game where you’re the player. Even for the younger kids, you can go play in Yankee Stadium and they’ll change the dimensions to something they can play, like the dimensions set to 190 feet instead of 450… It just keeps baseball fun, so we’re hoping it’ll bring more kids into the facility and have more kids playing ball longer and having fun and associating fun with baseball.”
It was through conversations with Elder and Topp that a potential donation came into play, and with funds left over from the original meaning the Alumni Association came into being, it seemed like a solid fit.
“A group of us got together in 2013 after Sarge died, we had heard that he wasn’t getting a proper funeral, so the idea behind the Moose Jaw Miller Alumi was to raise money for Sarge’s funeral,” Elder explained, referring to long-time Miller Express batboy Mel ‘Sarge’ Ostrom.
“So we got together as a baseball community and raised more money than we thought we would, and then talking to Sowden Flanagan and the impact they have on youth baseball in the community, we felt what better way to give back… Sarge would have loved this, he would have been down here all day if they’d let him, so it’s pretty fitting.”
Having a chance to play a role in developing the future of Moose Jaw baseball also made sense.
“If we can give back to baseball in Moose Jaw and develop kids in the grassroots program and try and get some more local guys playing for the Miller Express, it’ll all be worth it,” Elder said. “This facility is honing kids’ skills and getting them throwing and hitting all year round. It’s going to do great things for the community and for baseball in Saskatchewan. The little bit we can help out is going to have benefits for years.”
The HitTrax system is expected to be installed in early August, after which it’ll be a matter of sorting out the kinks and getting things going full steam.
“There are different things we’re thinking of, maybe even starting up some sort of leagues, but for now we just want to see how it works and have some fun,” Sowden said.
