Top Baseball Inventions Of 2021 Named By CB

by • Featured

By LOU PAVLOVICH, JR.
Editor/Collegiate Baseball

CHICAGO — Ten innovative products at the recent American Baseball Coaches Association Convention trade show were awarded Best of Show certificates by Collegiate Baseball.

Now in its 23rd year, the Best of Show awards encompass a wide variety of concepts and applications that are new to baseball.

The committee closely examined each of the 55 nominations that were submitted.

A number of superb inventions just missed being named winners as 300 exhibitors showed their merchandise at the 2022 ABCA Convention with an exhibit hall that was larger than a football field.

Here are the winners, chosen by Collegiate Baseball’s Best of Show selection committee.

Polar Power Bats
Starting with the 2011 NCAA baseball season, the escalating high-tech performance of non-wood bats was stopped cold.

New non-wood bats had to pass performance standards, including Moment of Inertia and BBCOR.

The Moment of Inertia test prevented new bats from carrying the bulk of the weight near the handle which allowed bats to swing faster than barrel weighted bats.

The BBCOR test limited the trampoline effect of bat barrels to that of wooden bats.

With the new changes, BBCOR certified non-wood bats utilized in 2011-2021 performed very close to wood bats, and no metal alloy bat up to now had an edge to the frustration of bat engineers.

The Dove Tail Bat Company introduced groundbreaking bats at the 2022 ABCA Convention which increases exit velocity 3-5 mph with most hitters which means more distance.

These unique bats include the limited edition 2-piece Polar Power BBCOR (32” and 33”) bats as well as the DTB Polar Power one-piece alloy bat which is USSSA certified.

Both come with ProXR asymmetric 23 degree angle knob technology (ABCA Best of Show winner in 2011) which was designed by Grady Phelan. The angle of the knob creates the perfect connection between the hitter’s hands and the bat.

Round knobs on the bottom of the bat not only cause bottom side hand compression, but also a “speed bump” in a hitter’s swing.

A hitter is forced to turn his wrists over the knob, throwing off his swing path and causing a loss in force of the swing at the most important moment of the swing – contact with the ball.

This results in lower exit velocity and sweet spot percentage for hitters.

In addition, these bats reduce knob compression from the bottom hand on the bat by 25 percent. This knob design has substantially reduced hamate bone fractures.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

The two-piece Dove Tail BBCOR bat for college player retails for $299.95 while the one-piece USSSA approved bat retails for $199.95.

For more information on these bats, go on the internet to https://dovetailbat.com/collections/proxr-metal-bat

Catcher’s Notebook
Two years ago, Always Grind Notebooks and Planners showed their amazing line of products at the ABCA Convention for the first time and were awarded a Best of Show certificate by Collegiate Baseball for their innovation.

These notebooks and planners allow athletes to write critical information by hand in carefully designed notebooks. They provide immediate data of day-to-day activities in practice and games.

Always Grind introduced a new product at the 2022 ABCA Convention in the Catcher’s Notebook.

It allows catchers to write down crucial information on each pitcher on their staff which includes a profile of each pitcher and whether they are a starter or reliever and how they throw with their unique profile of pitches from the windup and stretch.

There is an area to categorize pitches for each pitcher, what each pitcher’s pre-game routine is, an area on what motivates each pitcher and what the “quick fix” is for each hurler along with additional notes.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

The Catcher’s Notebook sells for $25.

For more information, go to their website at: www.alwaysgrind365.com  

CleanFuego
Several pitching coaches raved about a product called CleanFuego.

It is a unique training device that provides baseball players and coaches with immediately visual feedback about a throw.

It essentially is a “cut” baseball that looks like a love child between a hockey puck and a baseball.

The foundation of CleanFuego is to help athletes visualize the efficiency of their throw and specifically their spin efficiency.

Additionally, it can be used by any baseball player. Pitchers can use it to learn to polish pitches. Position players can improve their grip and release, glove transitions and more.

CleanFuego is strictly a manual tool with no need to charge it, connect it to a Wi-Fi signal or download an app.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

You can purchase a single red regular Fuego or a blue overload for $59.99 or purchase the two item set for $99.99.

For more information, go on their website at: www.cleanfuego.com  

Figure It Out Baseball
Figure It Out Baseball is a website that is first and foremost completely free.

What makes it so unique is that this site currently has 900-plus videos and podcasts that aim to instruct and educate baseball players (ages 8-22), their coaches and families on any subject within the game.

Videos include the staples of baseball such as hitting, pitching, defense and base running. But this website also includes content on the mental game, fully downloadable strength programs, recruiting videos, nutrition videos and more.

The videos are short and easy to watch with a majority being six minutes or less. All of the content was created by a team of 58 contributors, all of whom are current college or pro coaches or specialists (such as nutrition experts, mental and strength coaches).

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

To see this amazing, free website, go to: www.figureitoutbaseball.com

JUGS SP3 Pitching Machine
JUGS Sports introduced the SP3™ Baseball Pitching Machine at the 2022 ABCA Convention which will be available in early 2022.

This pitching machine features black-to-black accuracy and location at the turn of a dial and twist of a knob, the most advanced and easy to use pitch targeting system ever developed for a pitching machine that was invented by JUGS President, Butch Paulson, and took two years to develop.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

For more information, go to their website at www.jugssports.com

X3B Tracking System
Flightscope, the global leader in tracking and analyzing sports performance data, launched its new X3B Baseball Tracking System at the ABCA Convention in Chicago.

Flightscope X3B is the only portable baseball tracking system that allows users to measure both pitching and hitting data during practice and game settings indoors and outdoors.

FlightScope’s patented Fusion Tracking technology is exclusively available with the X3B product, combining 3D Doppler tracking and synchronized image processing to provide a realistic and accurate method for combining radar and camera data.

“The launch of the new FlightScope X3B Baseball Tracking System will revolutionize the way baseball coaches at the professional, college and youth levels analyze performance and implement data to help their players and teams improve,” said FlightScope Baseball Manager Beck Wheeler, who played college baseball at U.C. Santa Barbara before a 7-year minor league career in the New York Mets’ organization and a 2-year stint in baseball operations with the San Diego Padres.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

For more information, go to their website at: https://baseball.flightscope.com/   

Magic Tee
Since the first batting tee was invented decades ago, many different designs have hit the baseball landscape.

Several high-profile hitting coaches brought to our attention the Magic Tee.

It is a newly-engineered batting tee that holds a baseball from the top via rechargeable battery-powered suction.

This frees up the bottom half of the ball so that hitters can see it clearly and attack it without obstruction.

The tee is highly durable and incredibly stable, allowing hitters to worry about the quality of their swings rather than their tools.

The battery life on a full charge is six hours, and the bottom side of the tee has a digital readout which gives the user how much time is left on the battery from 100 percent to 0.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

The Magic Tee costs $579 with a full 1-year warranty.

For more information, go to their website at: http://magictee.io

SideLine Scout Elite
For years, baseball has been the beneficiary of golf technology as sophisticated video tracking has made its way into the game.

SideLine Scout Elite is based from video technology used in collegiate and Olympic diving as well as gymnastics which was invented by Steven Smallwood but improved and refined by GameDay Edge team and other elite coaches and athletes on the highest levels of these two sports.

The system uses professional or personal video cameras that communicate with a custom proprietary box to take incoming video streams and convert them into video clips.

These video clips are then distributed through a secure network to mobile devices (Surface, iPad, Android).

No internet connection or additional wireless network is needed.

Athletes and coaches are able to view the video clips seconds after it happens allowing them to make quick and deliberate adjustments.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

For more information, go on the internet to: www.sidelinescout.com/baseball

College Baseball Insights
College Baseball Insights is a fascinating one-stop college baseball research website.

It provides data-driven tools to help student-athletes, parents, coaches and recruiters make the best informed decisions when researching any of the 1,704 college baseball programs.

The genesis of this website began in 2014  by Arthur Crichlow and been refined into what it is today. His website has a mountain of information subscribers can look at from any baseball playing college in the USA.

You can access information such as:

  • How many outgoing players are there?
  • Why did they leave?
  • What was the position of outgoing players?
  • How many total incoming players?
  • How many were transfers?
  • What is the position of incoming players?
  • Historical trends for a team’s attrition rates?
  • Conference win-loss record and overall with links to official conference websites.
  • What is the team’s conference and overall record for the last five years?
  • What is the team’s win-loss percentage compared to other teams in the conference?

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

A monthly subscription costs $19.99, quarterly $49.99 and annual $99.99.

For more information, go to their website at www.collegebaseballinsights.com

The Kinetic Arm
Two years ago, the Perfect Arm designed by Jason Colleran was introduced at the Nashville ABCA Convention and earned a Collegiate Baseball Best of Show certificate.

Renamed The Kinetic Arm with a newly designed sleeve which is much easier to put on the upper body than the version two years ago, this multi joint, dynamic stabilizer uses patented MuscleWeb Technology to externally reinforce the muscles and joints while throwing.

Unlike other arm braces that are designed to immobilize and restrict motion, this sleeve is the first dynamic functional brace to offload stress and stabilize joints while in motion.

To read more of this story, purchase the Jan. 28, 2022 edition of Collegiate Baseball or subscribe by CLICKING HERE.

The cost is $199. For more information, go to their website at www.thekineticarm.com