Apple's iPad goes to bat for Major League Baseball - CNET

The iPad is getting called up to the big leagues.

Apple's tablet will be in every Major League Baseball dugout this year, helping coaches assess players' stats as part of a multi-year deal between the tech titan and the league to equip every team with iPad Pros, according to the Wall Street Joual.

The tablets will help coaches analyze players' performance stats from current and previous seasons, weigh pitcher vs. hitter matchups, and display "spray charts" that show where a player is most likely to hit a ball in the field, even going so far as to cue up videos of plays from previous games, according to the Joual.

Terms of the deal were not revealed. Major League Baseball officials declined to immediately comment on the partnership. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Coaches' use of iPads during games is the next logical step in analytical approach that has taken over baseball since the Oakland A's crunched numbers to build successful teams on the cheap in the early 2000s. The concept took off after Michael Lewis' book "Moneyball: The Art of Wiing An Unfair Game" brought it to the mainstream. Now, teams are built by spreadsheets rather than on instincts about how hard a pitcher can throw a fastball or far a hitter can smash a curveball.