Apple and the MLB team up to put iPad Pros in the dugout
The idea is to give coaches access to more data for baseball's surprises.
When the commentators during a baseball broadcast refer to the tablets Major League Baseball coaches are holding as "iPads," unlike pro football announcers, they'll actually be correct. Apple and the MLB have signed a deal that'll put 12.9-inch iPad Pros in dugouts and bullpens around the league, offering up everything from performance stats, videos of plays from past games to pitcher-batter matchups, according to The Wall Street Journal. All that data comes from a custom app co-developed by Apple and the league, MLB Dugout.
The aim isn't change for change's sake, but a way to help coaches better handle baseball's unexpected events like a relief pitcher taking the mound or a pinch hitter coming up to bat, the New York Mets' third-base coach Tim Teufel says. For now, Dugout will rely on team-specific, proprietary data that'll be preloaded prior to the opening pitch but the ultimate goal is info that approaches real-time. Unfortunately, there's no word if SnapBats are being modified to fit Apple's overgrown slate.
