CHAMPAIGN — Two weeks ago, just before an Illinois baseball team practice, Charlie Young was on the roof of the Illinois Field press box, fiddling around with the small box mounted on a tripod that the Illini baseball team hopes will revolutionize its data collection and use of advanced analytics.
The only hurdle is getting the FlightScope machine to work correctly. The metal poles holding up the protective netting cause interference with the machine's ability to track pitches and hits.
"We're trying to get better data, more precise data," said Kameron Wells, a graduate student who works with data analytics across the Illinois athletic department.