All major league baseball franchises in the United States today operate several minor league teams. The primary purpose of these minor league teams is to promote player development in concert with team managers and scouts who watch the players and make decisions about moving players between the minors and majors.
Each major league franchise has 2-3 dozen scouts and historically it was “butts in seats” for the scouts who traveled extensively to watch players. After several failed attempts to install an Internet video scouting system on their own, The San Francisco Giants asked VideoSSC to provide a video solution that would expand player development and expand the number of scouts who could watch players during games, increasing productivity and reducing costs for the team. VideoSSC installed five HD fixed focus video cameras, five Internet video encoders and the software to automate the operation of everything at The San Francisco Giants minor league ballpark in San Jose, California.
The single biggest requirement was the ability to watch live streaming video of either a batter or a pitcher in motion with no jitter in the video image. The video had to be smooth. After we finished installing and configuring the video and streaming systems, we tested the systems live over the Internet for the benefit of senior Giants management. They watched live streaming video from their smart phones, laptops and desktop computers. They saw pitchers throw pitches and batters swing at pitches with no video jitter at all. The new video scouting system was a huge business success for the Giants and VideoSSC.
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About the Author:
George Hall Founder/President of VideoSSC. He has over 30 years’ experience as a high technology engineering executive. With significant experience in high performance computing, Military electronics, IP networks and Video Broadcasting. Board member Public Television. An author and frequent guest on technology programs and panels. He holds a BA in mathematics from Hillsdale College.