Sharma: What’s cooking in the Cubs’ Pitch Lab?

From Sahadev Sharma at The Athletic on March 6, 2019:

Technological advances in baseball are often​ shrouded​ in secrecy and​ the goings-on​ at the Cubs’​ new​ Pitch​​ Lab is no different.

“I’m not comfortable answering that question,” one lower-level Cubs front office member said, almost recoiling when asked which pitchers are the most frequent visitors.

“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” another player development employee said when the location of the Pitch Lab came up in conversation.

He was joking. I think.

Of course, both questions are easily answered. Any media member can see the large warehouse-style building located directly west of the Cubs’ agility field at their spring training complex. A quick trek down the sidewalk past yards of covered chain-link fence is a door with a sign: “Pitch Lab in Progress.”

It’s not exactly Enrico Fermi’s makeshift laboratory under the Stagg Field stands in Hyde Park, but the Pitch Lab is just part of the Cubs’ ongoing dedication to progress. They’re throwing splitters at the lab, not splitting atoms, but the Cubs are still not keen on broadcasting it to the world.

Read the full article here (subscription required): https://theathletic.com/852141/2019/03/06/whats-cooking-in-the-cubs-pitch-lab-come-with-me-and-youll-see/



Originally published: March 6, 2019. Last Updated: March 6, 2019.