I was talking to one of the architects with the firm that designed the new Baseball Performance Center and he said that the punch list had been done and that the contractor was working on all of the items left on it before final completion. He was not directly involved in the design but toured the facility last week and is familiar with it. Some tidbits that he shared:
He said the mound they use to analyze the pitchers motion and leg power was amazing. That they could pinpoint where work needed to be done to exert the most power from the legs and feet for the pitcher.
He said they used to use stick on dots or terminals on the arm, wrist, elbow, back, etc. to analyze the pitching motion or the batting motion but that now the “radar” was so sophisticated that they needed no “aids” at all for it to analyze every part of the pitching or hitting motion.
He said the computer towers were massive to run all of the tech and that they had to hire specialists to operate all of this to get the info to the coaches and players for them to use.
He said this was technology that not all MLB franchises have yet and that no one in college baseball has but soon will be trying to catch up to.
The tunnel under the right field side stands to the dugout cost $1.5 million dollars to dig under the existing concrete bleachers.
When the home team switches to the first base side dugout, the season ticket holders will not be changed. So, folks who have been behind the home dugout for years will now be behind the visitors for at least one season and then they may re-arrange the ticket locations after they get settled in.
I forgot to mention that all of the existing suites were getting renovated with new updated finishes this summer.
Can they use the analytical tech with campers or recruits when they visit as a recruiting tool? If so, what a recruiting advantage that would be to invite a prospect to visit, give him and his high school coaches all of this data for him to use to improve his game, and give a hint of what they could do for him if he signed and got to work with all of this for several years! Is that allowed by the NCAA?
Matt has done stories on the mound technology. And, yes, we have covered the move to first base. I was told the tunnel cost $1 million. Maybe they spent $500,000 in paint inside. LOL.
Interesting. I heard all sorts of things about the relocation. One person said they had talked with the ticket office and were told that ALL season ticket holders were to be contacted and potentially moved. (That would be a total nightmare.) Someone else insisted that only selective seats would be changed. All stories were told with great authority.
I just want to stay where I’ve been for 12 years. I like my seat, but I couldn’t afford it if I had to “qualify” for it by my contribution.
I forgot about that article Matt. Thanks. What about using that technology at camps and on recruiting visits? Is that allowed and, if it is, does that give Arkansas a huge recruiting tool as well as a huge draw to their camps?
That would be nice. I tell my clients that architects “cost less than lawyers, more than plumbers, and are always a bargain.” Most architect’s fees are around 6% which most waiters would consider an insult if that is all you gave them for their service. Realtors average 7% and they can sell the same house over and over and make the same fee. After you pay for computers, wages, insurance, consultants, etc. the profit on that fee is usually 5-10% of the fee, not the project, and that covers a two or more year process. We aren’t poor but we are nowhere near as rich as the contractors, engineers, and clients we work with.
I don’t think an exact price was ever given on the new tunnel. The ADG reported in 2019 that the cost of the center would be in excess of $26 million instead of the initial projection of between $20 million and $25 million, and the tunnel was the reason for the cost increase.
I don’t know the details but I can easily imagine how an estimate can go up when unforseeable problems are encountered (they were tunneling under old concrete stepped bleachers just poured on sloped dirt so there so shoring all of that up as you dig out from under it, digging new fountations, placing beams & columns to support the bleachers above while the season continued with spectators using them, etc. had to have been a nightmare process for the contractor) or when additional items are added to the finished product. At this point, those costs are all pinned down, hashed out, and almost totally paid for in the construction contract so these should be real numbers that he was giving out.
On your question about the technology, Hogmodo, my guess is that you could use it at camps but not on recruiting visits. They’re really limited on what they can do on official visits. But I could be wrong on that.
You can probably tell that I am really intrigued by our lead over most teams in technology and our fame for being the best college program for developing players. I think there was a coaches poll that confirmed that fact a while back. Lockhart’s story about Andy Pettite telling him to go to Arkansas and that Hobbs was the best pitching coach in college ball is also pretty cool. You know they show the recruits and campers the systems they have. Campers receiving advice and coaching from the coaches and aids at the camps so it is not much of a leap to let them try out the technology and share with them and their coaches what it says they can improve on or work on. DVH has recruited a top five class each of the last 3-4 years. I have to believe this new facility will take that even higher which would begins to approach Alabama football status. Of course we need several natty’s to go with top rated recruiting to get there but it just might happen. Exciting times for Hog fans!