How Trajekt's New Pitching Technology Helps Prospects Develop

Image credit: (Photo via Trajekt Instagram)

“Now you seen it!”

Anyone who has played organized baseball and taken a strike looking to start an at-bat has heard this phrase shouted. In split seconds, you have to identify a pitch and make a decision on where and how to swing. Hitting a baseball should be physically impossible, but a human’s innate ability to catalog based on muscle memory allows us to meet the plane of the ball’s trajectory based on learned experience.

But what if a player could practice against any pitcher they’ll ever face before they face them? How much would this prepare a hitter for in-game at-bats?

With the help of modern technology, hitters are preparing in exactly this way.

Enter a new advanced pitching machine by a company out of Toronto: Trajekt Sports. Trajekt has revolutionized hitting training by creating the first pitching robot capable of replicating with video the exact pitch movement, velocity and release traits of every pitcher in professional baseball.

On Trajekt’s website, they list 21 major league teams as clients. The device allows hitters to see pitches in a real way before facing any starter on a given night. Cardinals outfielder Brendan Donovan, a three-year MLB veteran, has utilized the machine in-season to prepare before games and get more comfortable against opponents.

“You get in the box (against the Trajekt) and it’s like ‘Give me the nastiest this guy can look,'” Donovan said. “Then you get in the box (in the game), and it’s like ‘I just hit off of this guy at his absolute best, I can handle this.’”

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The value of ‘seeing it’ still rings true, as Donovan pointed to his ability to do his homework against pitchers he hasn’t faced.

“If I’ve seen a guy before or multiple times I might not use it,” he said. “But if it’s someone I haven’t seen before I will because I want to know what his shapes look like.”

The challenge of adjusting to in-season changes or new pitches early in the season becomes easier with the assistance of the Trajekt according to Donovan. But he also warned against the potential for “overtraining” and stressed the challenge of the machine and its ability to allow players to deal with failure.

“I wouldn’t do it if you’re trying to feel good,” Donovan said. “I haven’t seen anybody who can go in there and just rake off of it.”

This is by design, as the goal of the machine is to challenge players in a competitive environment where they are designed to fail. This is what makes the technology of value to teams to the point that some clubs that have begun setting up Trajekt machines for their minor league affiliates.

One club confirmed as a client are the Red Sox. After demoing the technology a few years ago, Boston installed three Trajekt devices: one located in Fenway Park, one at the team’s Triple-A affiliate in Worcester and one at the team’s training complex in Fort Myers, Florida.

Director Of Player Development Brian Abraham highlighted the organization’s desire to incorporate the technology across all levels, not just the MLB team.

“We felt like the investment was worth it,” Abraham said. “People we hire are, one, familiar with (Trajekt) and, two, really believe in competitive, challenging types of training.”

The Red Sox believe that replicating as much of the major league environment at the Triple-A level as possible puts their players at an advantage, with Abraham describing it as “a huge positive.”

“Whether it be pre-game or early work, our players use it fairly consistently,” he said. “Not only does it prepare them for the game, but it allows them to train against certain types of pitches or pitch-type areas they might feel they can’t work as much, whether it be with a coach or two machines.“

In this way, Trajekt allows players to challenge themselves and, ultimately, improve. Not only by preparing for that night’s starter, but by being more aware of the variety of pitch types, locations and release traits they’ll encounter over the course of a season and career.

Roman Anthony, the new No. 1 prospect in baseball, agrees, as the 20-year-old outfielder has utilized the machine before all of his home games in Worcester this season.

“I try and go in there everyday and at least see the starting pitcher before we go out,” Anthony said. “I like to get my work in early, and then go in there right before we go out to the field. Even if I don’t swing, just go in there, see a couple of fastballs or whatever that guy that day is throwing.

“It’s a little bit harder in there, too, when it’s coming off the machine. Then you get into the game and it’s almost kind of slowed down.”

Worcester teammate and fellow top prospect Kristian Campbell agreed with Anthony’s assessment, saying, “You’ve got to get used to it, for sure. It takes a minute, but once you get used to it, you make it a part of your routine … Even if it’s just to see pitches, that has value.”

The challenge posed by the new tech is not lost on hitters. Many have stories of their first time facing a Trajekt.

Travis Bazzana, for example, faced a Trajekt for the first time at the Guardians’ facility after Cleveland drafted him No. 1 overall in July. The Australia native, who batted .407 for Oregon State this season, went up against a digital version of Rangers reliever Andrew Chafin after asking to face a lefthanded pitcher who threw “92-94 mph with a good slider.”

Bazzana didn’t mince words when describing how uncomfortable the at bat was.

“I got diced!” Bazzana said, adding that that first couple times against a Trajekt pitcher, “your brain doesn’t want to think it’s real.”

“When you’re trying to search for that release while in a game, it comes naturally with a soft focus point.”

Anthony and Campbell shared similar experiences in facing the Trajekt version of Yankees ace Gerrit Cole for the first time.

“It chewed me up,” said Anthony. “Heck, it still chews me up.”

“It was everyone from my draft class’ first time using it, and it was just blowing everyone up,” added Campbell. “It’s fun, but man is it a challenge.”

Despite the struggles hitters face when getting in their work against the Trajekt, it’s a sign of a brave new world in hitting development. New technologies have helped transform pitching and training, in general, in recent years, and with burgeoning new tech like Trajekt, baseball could be on the precipice of a breakthrough in hitting that evolves the game into it’s next phase.

Bazzana believes the machine is part of a trend in baseball technology to shrink the gap between hitting and pitching.

“I think Trajekt is somewhere hitting can pull its way back as a whole in the major leagues,” he said. “I think it’s a powerful tool.”