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The 2022 high school season is underway, and Tennesseans are flocking to the ballparks to check out the next generation of talent rising the ranks. As the bats start ringing and the fastballs start whistling, my twitter timeline begins to fill up with video clips from all across the state. I usually spend my evenings after games scrolling through the feed making notes of guys I need to follow up with and guys that I may not be too familiar with at that point. College recruiters are often doing the same thing, as their schedules are limited due to managing their own team and trying to sneak out to catch a couple of games throughout the week. From social feeds, I see various video setups, angles, and presentations; therefore, I wanted to share some tips on capturing high quality video to help assist your son or his teammates.

 

Tip #1: Be Fearless

I feel that one reason people don't go out of their way to enhance video quality is they're afraid of being labeled as "that parent," but the fact of the matter is that you're just playing a role in helping your child elevate his platform. Furthermore, the first tip is to be fearless. Don't be bound to your seat or scared of walking over to the opposing side to capture the best video. If you've seen me out scouting games, I'm no stranger in adjusting angles and finding ways to make it work to be represent the captured player. I'd say 90% of the time my hands are tangled in the netting trying to eliminate that barrier and provide the cleanest picture possible. Is it a risky game? Absolutely, but I've been doing this for 2.5 years and I've yet to been struck by a baseball in gameplay. Have there been close calls? Absolutely, seen many fouled back baseballs nearly hit me in the face or break every bone in my hand. Do I understand by acknowledging this that I will 100% get smoked by a baseball this Spring? No doubt, but I'll do everything in my power to capture great videos to promote these players. Last season on multiple occasions, I crawled under bleachers to ensure I captured good videos, so also be creative and make it happen. However, don't feel you have to go to those extremes because video with netting is also very serviceable when captured correctly, but just a note for those willing to risk it to get the biscuit.

 

Tip #2: Horizontal Phones Only

One common mistake I often see is people that post videos using a vertical camera instead of turning it sideways to capture horizontally. This causes issues with quality and also makes it more difficult to edit on the backend (we'll get to that). With these videos, it's so common to see every blade of grass surrounding the home plate area. It's often dead space and really takes away from the action. It always seems to make the action much further away and really limits the view of the play. The only time I go vertical phone is for our instagram content, and the picture is very tight around the action (You'll be able to see this soon on our insta account in the coming weeks). To conclude, let's all band together and promise #NoMoreVerticalVideos, so flip that phone and use two hands to capture everything horizontal.

Tip #3: Zoom, zoom, zoom...

Probably one of the biggest mistakes I see in tagged videos is there is no zoom. Often when videos are texted to others or posted into social accounts, they are compressed which further disrupts the quality. I can't tell you how many times I've seen a home run video where 1. couldn't see the ball leave the bat or 2. the picture is so far from the action I really can't gather much info besides being told it was a home run. Same can be said about pitching videos were the videographer is so far from the plate that it's very difficult to see the shape of the pitches and locations. If you're going through the netting, feel free to zoom in as much a necessary, but if you're behind the netting be careful with the zoom because the phone will try to focus on the netting. Usually if you step back away from the netting this usually clears up this issue. Eliminate dead space and zoom as much as one can to capture the action. 

Tip #4: Improving Overall Quality

Last Spring, I was capturing videos on an iPhone 8, which by time it got half way through the season would barely function because the camera was so shot. I kid you not there would be games where I'd have to hit my phone on concrete for it to focus and not glitch. Luckily, my wife really pushed me on getting a new phone, so I invested in the iPhone 12 Pro and I was absolutely floored about how the picture quality improved. Now I can zoom up to 6x while also not losing quality picture, so big kudos for Apple on doing this, an absolute game changer. Now, I'm not telling you to go purchase a new phone, but there are ways to improve the video quality, so I highly recommend going into your camera settings and playing around to find what works best. 98% of the videos we post to our social accounts end up in 4K resolution, which gives us the best presentation. If you have an older phone model that is also limited on zoom (let's say 4x and less), look into picking up a zoom magnifier that fits your phone which will also help with quality picture. 

Tip #5: What should I be capturing?

We'll split this up into two sections: position players and pitchers.

Position players: Filming at bats from the open side (Righties: first base side and Lefties: third base side) with great zoom. The angle can be tricky depending on the park you're at, but the sweet spot is usually lined up with the base lines or slightly further down towards the dugouts. Be cautious of getting too squared up on the hitter because you'll want to capture the player's rotation during the swing. One contact is made and the ball is in play: follow the player, not the baseball. It seems to be human nature to follow the flight of the ball, but this can take away from some great clips. For example, the player takes a good swing and drives a ball into the gap, and the outfielder can get to it but unfortunately he slips and falls down with the player getting a double out of it. The focus goes away from the player who hit the ball and more so to the player who slipped up. Just follow the player around the bases until the play is complete. If you're looking to do more all around, you might look to add defensive clips (in-game, between innings, or from pregame in/out), just be sure you're zoomed well and the focus is on the player performing. However, I'd say most coaches are wanting to see the swing and at bats, so that would be the main focus. 

Pitchers: Pitchers are much more simple to setup and generally you have way more opportunities to capture compared to 3-4 batted balls in a game per player. Always behind the plate and slightly staggered to the opposite of the batting side. General rule I use is if it's a lefty batter, I'm gonna line up on the righties batters box chalk and vice versa. This generally clears any obstacles (such as the umpire setup) and allows you to capture the full pitch path from hand to catchers mitt. Things you're looking for are called strikes, swing n misses, executed pitches, and most importantly strikeouts. Generally, I'll capture 15 pitches or less for any given pitcher that I'm scouting and the length usually depends on me waiting for a particular pitch or sequence. For example, I may have a fastball called for a strike and one swing n miss, but I'm lacking a well executed breaking ball or feel the pitcher is gonna throw a better one. Every now and then I'll dive back into to video with two strikes in hope of capturing a good punch out and potentially a K-strut. Don't feel you have to capture every single pitch, just enough to put together a solid clip (under a minute), but it's much easier to create separate videos for each pitch and scrap any mishaps (bad pitch, ball to the backstop, etc). Don't forget... ZOOM.

Tip #6: Editing the Final Product

Don't leave your clips untouched, take some time (or find someone) who can edit the videos to make them efficient. The attention span is shorter than ever in today's world, and coaches don't want to sit and watch a pitcher walk the mound, get the sign, then begin the delivery. Same can be said about at bats, don't post the entire at bat and there is no action until 3/4 of the way through the clip. Edit the videos down into under a minute highlighting the best aspects of the game. Sure a kid a might have a ground ball single, but maybe it wasn't their best swing in comparison to a hard line out to CF, so don't bog down the clips with so-so outcomes.

Tip #7: Give Us a Tag on Social

Give us a tag on social media @PBRTennessee (or my personal @ColtonProvey), this ensures I will see the clip and if you're seeking feedback on the video itself then I'm happy to help. Our DMs are always open for you to share information on players, so don't be a stranger. If you're looking for us to promote your tweet with a like or retweet, there are some limitations we typically follow: 1. don't tag competitor companies (Or simply tweet it twice once with our tag then the second with whoever you desire) 2. We refrain from posting clips of others featuring metrics such as pitching velos (We certainly make a mental note of potential jumps, but we're always going to confirm with our own eyes and staff scouting games). There may be a few more I'm leaving off, but we scour the twitter feeds every night looking to see the action from all across the state and make notes of guys we need to follow up on.

 

That's it, my crash course on video capturing for this Spring. Hopefully, we'll see more quality videos coming in and just maybe I'll have to start a "Video of the Week" section to share the fine work of the people. Feel free to utilize our twitter page as a blueprint for video capturing or even check out other PBR states to check out the boots on the ground coverage and aw always reach out if you have any questions or need assistance. Together if we capture better quality video then it will only continue to elevate the players in our state. Appreciate your time and now I'm heading off to another ballpark....

 

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