Thursday, March 25, 2010
Introducing Batting Goggles for the iPhone and iPod Touch
Posted by Craig GlaserWe've recently introduced a new iPhone/iPod Touch app over at Sabometrics. Batting Goggles is perfect for taking in a game at the ballpark or the bar. It gives you instant access to interesting info about every batter and pitcher in the majors. The app shows you an interactive hot and cold diagram presenting each player's average and slugging percentage on pitches in that area of the strike zone. You can customize this to show the players' performance against righties, lefties or both. You can also see the sample size for each section by clicking on it. The app also contains some basic statistics for each player. We think it's pretty cool.
There's more information (here) We're planning to add a favorites list and the ability to save two lineups. We think the lineup feature will make the app even easier to use while watching a game. All data is stored on the device so you don't need an internet connection and don't worry it takes up less than a megabyte.
To celebrate the release of the app I wanted to run a give-away for readers of THT Live. I'm going to give away two copies with two different competitions. Feel free to enter both competitions if you want to. The first one is for people who don't have the app yet and the second is for people who have bought the app already. Each winner will get a promo code for iTunes - the second contest winner can give their code to a baseball loving friend since they already have the app. I'll also write a post announcing the winners of each contest so you'll receive immortality in the hallowed pages of THT Live. The contests will be open for exactly one week after this post goes live.
For the first contest please send an email to battinggoggles at gmail.com with the subject "Batting Goggles Contest #1" For this contest I want you to send in the best original nickname for a major league player (by original I mean one which I haven't heard.) This is completely subjective and the winner will be decided by the two designers of the app.
For the second contest please send an email to battinggoggles at gmail.com with the subject "Batting Goggles Contest #2" For this contest I want you to name two players, one batter and one pitcher - who have the best (highest for batters, lowest for pitchers) slugging percentage (against players of both handedness) in the middle section of the strike zone. I'm going to take the difference between the two slugging percentages and the biggest difference will win. In case of a tie the earlier entry will win. To qualify, each player must have a sample size of at least 25 pitches in the middle zone. Please include the slugging percentage of each player along with their names in the email.
Above are a couple of screen shots of the app in action. Each player had a qualifying number of at bats in the middle section of the zone and would qualify for contest #2. Since Santana had a .757 slugging against in that zone I wouldn't recommend using him for the contest. Sandoval was pretty good with a .914 slugging but you might be able to find someone even better if you take a look around the app.
Good luck with the contests. We hope you enjoy the app! You can click here to open iTunes directly to the app.
Read more of Craig's work on his website Sabometrics