Pitcher Protection Device

Project Scope

 

We will design and develop a prototype system for preventing injury to the head and neck of professional baseball pitchers from line drive batted balls.  The system will consist of a physical protection device that, when given a signal that the pitcher’s head/neck will be struck, will deploy and deflect the ball or otherwise prevent pitcher injury.  Such a device may be located on the pitcher’s body or on the ground in front of the pitcher.

The system will be designed to be coupled with a ball tracking device that can track and predict the trajectory of the ball to determine if the pitcher’s head/neck will be impacted.  The technology for the tracking system exists in other applications (see section 1.3 Background on Ball Tracking) and is outside the scope of this project.  Thus, our system will be designed to protect the pitcher given that a tracking system has determined the pitcher’s head is in danger.