1. The Pitch

Actual velocity: 96.8 mph

Perceived velocity: 100.6 mph

Spin rate: 2,569 rpm

2. The Hit

Exit velocity: 94.1 mph

3. The Run

First step: 0.56 second

Acceleration to max speed: 4.34 seconds

Max speed: 19.6 mph

4. The Reaction

Total distance: 18.2 feet

Max speed: 14.8 mph

Route efficiency: 92.7%

5. The Throw

Release: 0.85 second

Velocity: 59.9 mph

For all the Brad Pitt-fueled hype, sabermetric analysis is still only as good as the systems that capture data from the field—who hit what to whom. The lightning-quick shortstop out there between second and third base, he's harder to quantify. But by the time the first Major League Baseball pitch is thrown this season, all 30 ballparks will have a new tracking system called Statcast that can rank defensive powerhouses just as well as star batters. It uses cameras, radar, and sophisticated AI to put numbers on every element of a play—from the rpm of the pitch to the exact trajectory of the ball to the fielder's split-second defensive moves. Time to put aside hits, runs, and RBIs; this season's promising rookies are metrics like “route efficiency” and “spin rate.” Get ready for Moneyball II: The Reckoning.

Watch the original play depicted here.

Radar

A radar system adapted from military ballistics testing measures the ball's position up to 20,000 times per second. It can even track the seams on the ball to calculate its spin.

Cameras

Above the third-base line, two sets of cameras stitch together a stereoscopic view of the field to determine every movement in, say, this leaping play from Atlanta Braves shortstop Andrelton Simmons.

Chris Philpot