Will MLB players’ union play ball with wearables?

The Major League Baseball Players Association is worried about the effects wearable use on and off the field will have on players.

It follows the MLB approving two wearables, the Zephyr Bioharness and Motus elbow sleeve, which log heart-rate and strain on arms, respectively.

Some union representatives and players have argued that wearable data collection could be used to bench players that don’t get enough sleep or have a bad day on the practice field. Others suspect that MLB teams may use data to lower the contract value of players.

New York Mets Curtis Granderson, a MLBPA representative, said: “It’s a matter of how much access will we have to it?’ How much [access] will the team have to it? What will be done with it?”

Several players voiced similar concerns about the longevity of data collected and how it can be used by MLB teams. In the current state, coaches look at the data post-game and evaluate performance and health.

MLB players worried about off the field monitoring

Players are also concerned that teams will force them to wear the devices outside of work, to track their health and fitness at home. This could seen as a major invasion of privacy. Rockies catcher Nick Hundley said that it may lead to a Philadelphia Eagles situation under Chip Kelly, where most of the team left during the two years due to invasive technologies.

MLB is trying to ensure unions that evaluation of performance or health risks will not come up during contract signings, but players seem to not believe the directors in charge of making the game fair for players.

If a team fails to provide adequate data protection, it may lead to players asking to be removed from the team or taking the wearables off during games. MLB players have already expressed certain disdain for tech entering the game, and this season will be jam packed with wearables to add to all of the technology already assessing player’s capabilities.

MLB’s new season kicks off….now with wearables

With a new season kicking off, Major League Baseball (MLB) has finally approved its first professional wearables that they’ll allow on the field this season.

The league has been opposed to wearables for several years. But this year, two products made the roster: The MotusBaseball, which measures arm exertion and stress levels and the Zephyr Bioharness, a suit capable of reading the physiological data of a player.

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Teams will not be allowed to analyse this information in real time, according to Sports Techie, instead having to download all the information after the game. The MLB has cited issues with privacy, saying that every player must be allowed to accept or decline checking their information.

It is a small step for the MLB and might lead to even more wearable approvals during the 2016 season. Blast Motion and Diamond Kinetics have already had their swing sensors approved for use in practice games and training, so full approval for use in games could come later.

MLB still ejecting consumer wearables during games

MLB will not allow consumer wearables to be worn during games, so Fitbit, Nike Fuelband, and Jawbone are all still in the dark. We do not know if any of these companies have filed for approval with the MLB.

Compared to other American sports, the MLB is quite far behind when it comes to technology. The NBA has seen a rush in technology, funded primarily by teams like the LA Clippers, Dallas Mavericks, and Sacramento Kings. The NFL partnered with Microsoft in 2012 to make Surface’s the official tablet of the game, and has also started testing new Internet of Things systems on the pitch for better analysis.

While the wearables certainly shows a change in character for the MLB, we expect it to be a slow process from the good old game to using wearables and big data analysis to beat the opponent.