Apr 11, 2015; Cincinnati, OH, USA; St. Louis Cardinals manager Mike Matheny (26) in the dug out during the ninth inning against the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park. The Cardinals won 4-1. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports
The St. Louis Cardinals have begun using iPads in the dugout, with Major League Baseball's permission, for purposes of scouting and viewing charts related to in-game strategy.
It's something MLB has started implementing as means of helping the game advance into today's tech-savvy age. Manager Mike Matheny told Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he and his coaching staff have used one for the past few games as a tool for getting background information on other teams' young September call-ups.
The Cards are one of a few clubs that accepted the league's invitation to use iPads in the dugout as a replacement for the previous method of scouting and researching, which included notepads and paper. Apparently, these teams can use the iPad method in the postseason if they so choose.
Goold mentions that Matheny, who calls himself a 'visual learner', has two iPads on his desk and is fully willing to take advantage of the technology allowed by the league as it pertains to scouting and coaching research. What's more, he also told Goold that using the iPad in the dugout recently 'cut his prep work with some statistics in half'.
In conjuntion with the league's rules cracking down on cell phone usage during games, these iPads may not connect to wi-fi, meaning that any scouting information coaches and/or players might want to view during a game must be pre-loaded onto the iPad. That's what the Cardinals are doing, and they seem to be taking to it well so far.
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