As the Royals roll, this KC tech startup wants to develop its future pitchers
October 27, 2015 | Bobby Burch
A local startup hopes to cultivate the next Wade Davis or Yordano Ventura with the help of its pitching technology.
Precise Play’s Digital Pitch Analyzer
In early 2015, Kansas City-based Precise Play launched its digital pitch analyzer, which the company is selling to baseball academies, schools and private leagues.
Precise Play founder Victor Villarreal said that his machine has been a hit with young players — ages eight to 18 — who hope to improve their pitching skills.
“We can’t get kids off these machines,” Villarreal said. “I took it to a maker’s fair, and the kids were throwing into it and having a blast. Finally, their parents had to tell them that there were other people in line. … You can’t keep them off this thing.”
The six-foot, 300-pound machine uses laser light to track and locate a pitch. A digital display quickly reports back to a pitcher his speed, whether the throw was a strike or ball and its general location.
Painted a Royal blue, the Wi-Fi-enabled pitch analyzer also produces printable performance reports for pitchers to see their pattern. Soon the machine will send the report to a mobile app that’s now in development, which will allow for pitchers to create an online profile of their skills and progress.
“We developed a light curtain with this machine,” Villarreal said. “It has a triple layer light curtain and there are laser arrays that are disrupted by a passing ball and we can collect the data as it passes. We can detect its position on an x and y (axis) and a delta and z axis with a speed component to very accurately determine the speed of the ball.”
Villarreal is selling the laser light version of his product for $4,400 and a radar-based machine for $1,500.
An electrical engineer by training, Villarreal said he plans to capture data from the machines in hopes to create additional revenue opportunities for Precise Play. Eventually, Villarreal said he sees the potential for college scouts and recruiters to pay a subscription to learn more about prospects.
Founded in 2012, Precise Play now has eight people on staff.
Here’s a brief demonstration of the machine from Villarreal:
2015 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Black farmers are losing ground in the fight to feed their communities, advocates say
More than a century of systemic land dispossession and discriminatory practices has left Black farmers with less than 0.6 percent of U.S. farmland — less than a third of the 16 million acres they operated in 1910, according to local urban farming advocates. They gathered Tuesday at Independence Boulevard Christian Church to confront this history…
Cracking egg-flation: How farmers, substitute ingredients help restaurants mitigate price spike
Editor’s note: This story was originally published by Kansas City PBS/Flatland, a member of the Kansas City Media Collective, which also includes Startland News, KCUR 89.3, American Public Square, The Kansas City Beacon, and Missouri Business Alert. Click here to read the original story. Whether ordering an omelet, French toast, chicken n’ biscuits, chilaquiles, corned beef hash…
Soccer tennis comes to KC ahead of World Cup; here’s how a weekend street festival is kicking it across the map
Ryogoku Soccer Academy — with the help of local businesses like MADE MOBB, Café Ollama, and Café Cà Phê — is taking soccer from the pitch to the streets of Kansas City’s historic Northeast, Brad Leonard shared. As the metro gears up for hosting World Cup games in 2026, the neighborhood-based international school and soccer…
KC celebs, sports icons and tech stars stick around; a hall of famer’s interviews reveal why
Sportscaster Frank Boal could’ve just retired; his wife (and Kansas City’s pull) made other plans Former sports broadcaster and Pittsburgh native Frank Boal knows a thing or two about the pull of Kansas City, he shared. The longtime media personality moved here in 1981 for work and never left. Now, Boal and his wife, Sarah…