Butler’s baseball and softball teams are using new technology this season. Photo by Keelen Barlow.
Launch angle, attack angle, spin rate, exit direction, spin direction. They all sound like words you would use in a United States military board room. In reality, these metrics are what the Butler baseball and softball programs hope will translate into future Big East championships.
The two programs have taken a deeper dive into the world of analytics for player development and game analysis over the last few seasons. Butler has made the investment in software that measures statistics like launch angle – the vertical angle at which the ball leaves the bat – or spin rate – the rate at which the ball spins during flight.