It's one of the most exciting night on the baseball calendar: The Home Run Derby. This year, the Derby is in Los Angeles, and ESPN asked us to take a deep dive into big flies at Dodger Stadium. But we weren't just looking at any ordinary dingers. Sport Science broke down the home runs that actually left the park. But our analysis couldn't stop there. We wanted to figure out the longest possible home run distance we could see from baseball's biggest sluggers on Monday night.
Our 2D graphics came in handy as ball-trackers and on-screen graphics while breaking down the massive home runs from Giancarlo Stanton and Fernando Tatis, Jr. We were also able to visually display how drag affects baseballs in the air. The real secret to the piece, though, were our 3D models.
We were able to get our hands on a model of Dodger Stadium in order to demonstrate the distances required to launch a ball out of the park. It was a far more practical and visually appealing option than attempting to use old highlight footage, and we could set up the shots just as we needed. We were also able to use 3D models to simulate the longest possible home run distance at the stadium, which was a really fun exercise for us. We don't know if any of the competitors will actually be able to mash a ball 530 feet at the Derby, but we do know it's possible.
Keep an eye out for our Sport Science segment around Derby time, as well as another post coming later this week!
