The Oakland A’s first base coach Tye Waller is not your average “techy”, but he does understand the importance of technology in today’s society. For eight years now, Waller has been able to utilize app technology as a tool to benefit him in his area of expertise – coaching. Through innovation and traditional baseball insight, Waller’s app has helped the Oakland A’s both prepare for each game and better their skills as players. For Waller, the switch from three-ring binders and stacks of paper to app technology was an easy decision.
“Well, I have been in baseball for a lifetime now…and I get a ton of [paper] reports coming across my desk,” Waller said. “There has got to be a way that you could put something together so that you could… have all your reports that you’ve written in a nice neat form and not have to go dig them out of the file cabinet or [wonder] where you put reports for this player three years ago. I was always looking but I never really found anything so I kept doing it the old fashion way.”
Then, Coach Waller found FileMaker. FileMaker allowed Waller to create his own custom solution – in this case an app that he uses on his iPad and computer – that would fit his needs as a baseball coach. Waller was able to input all of the data he had accumulated over the years and organize it within this easy-to-use app. His iPad is now home to more than 6,000 player profiles, stats, videos and scouting reports that can be can referenced, studied and shared at anytime. As a result, all the information he needs on an opposing pitcher or player is right at his fingertips.
“It simplifies it. I give the players the information they want,” Waller stated about his custom FileMaker app. “And it’s all in a neat little package now!”
Waller is not the only Oakland A’s coach to use this app. He has made his custom application available to the rest of the Oakland A’s coaching staff. Curt Young, the Athletics pitching coach, and third base coach Mike Gallego both used the app as well as some of the hitting coaches. Coach Waller has also shared an earlier version of the app with a few of the minor league coaches in an effort to help Athletics’ staff at all levels easily share data on a particular player by exporting the information directly from the app and transferring the files to one another via email.
Even though coach Waller can use his iPad on the field during practices and warm-ups, he still cannot take it with him into the dugout during games. With the Oakland A’s being based in a region full of new technology and innovation, Waller finds himself restricted by Major League Baseball’s antiquated regulations on technology. Consequently, Waller has to print all of the reports he would like the Oakland A’s players to study and post them in the dugout for each game. In stark contrast to this, the NFL has recently integrated the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet so it can be used on the field during NFL games. If this trend continues, it is clear that app based technology such as Waller’s could soon be used by other sports teams during games as well.
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“I believe that it is going to come to pass somewhere down the road. I think right now they are trying to figure out ways to implement it into the game,” Waller said about the integration of technology in the MLB. “I definitely see this somewhere in the near future becoming a part of the game.”
Even though coach Waller’s FileMaker app has worked very well for him over the years, he sees it as more of a scouting tool. Although it is useful for his purposes as a coach, Waller has shifted gears and has been working with professional developers and coders this offseason to create a new app. This new app will now focus more on the baseball players rather of the coaches.
“This app will be useful for players from the little leagues to the big leagues – pitchers and position players alike. Thats my hope,” Waller stated about his new app. He is hoping that this application will help each individual person track his progression as a baseball player to better improve his overall game.
And, Waller has not been the only Oakland Athletic who has been working on an app this offseason either. Outfielder Coco Crisp released his first gaming app just a few weeks ago called Coco’s Fro Patrol, a game which has users catching baseballs in Crisp’s Afro. So far, the app has been a hit with over 1,000 downloads and even Waller has been checking it out.
“I’m gonna take a stab at it,” Waller said about Coco’s Fro Patrol gaming app. “I know Bob Melvin – he was in the top ten at one point in the world on the Coco Fro game and my goal is to climb up enough just to let [Coco] know I was there.”
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But all the fun and games will soon be winding down as the start of the season approaches, and the Oakland A’s will have to get down to business if they want to reach the postseason for a fourth year in a row. Even though last year’s ending was extremely disappointing, coach Waller says it gives him that extra motivation to do better this season.
“Every year I show up, as a coach, I can never entertain the thought that we won’t get [to the postseason]. It keeps you energized each and every day to do whatever is possible to help your team perform,” Waller stated about the Oakland A’s chances this year. Waller is not the only one excited about this season. The players are already talking about how they can come together and become a team.
“When you get a group of guys that think like that, the sky’s the limit,” Waller believes.
The upcoming season also means that Waller will have to begin to limit his use of the FileMaker app because of the strict MLB regulations of how technology can be used. Even though Waller is an innovator in his field, it is hard to use his app to its full potential when he is restricted from using it during games. With technology being used by fans and players alike, the MLB will soon need to look at options for successfully integrating tech into professional baseball organizations – especially within the dugout.
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