Fieldhouse provides cutting-edge insights

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This article was published 29/11/2022 (756 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new facility has opened in Brandon for young baseball and softball players looking for a cutting-edge technological breakdown of their game.

Tyler Ursel built, owns and operates the Fieldhouse, which can be found in the Southview Industrial Park south of the Brandon Humane Society on 17th Street East. The training facility is off Myers Road in the southeast corner of the park.

“I’m mostly hopeful,” Ursel said of the facility. “There’s a lot of demand in the softball thing but right now they’re kind of being serviced in a lot of ways. I don’t want to cut into anybody else’s thing. I’m hoping to offer better instruction to help the parents that were like me where I felt like I couldn’t give my kid better instruction, so that there would be some available to them.

“That’s my goal. If you want your son or daughter to have a chance to be better, I just want to make it so something like that is available.”

The new building is 58 feet by 68 feet, with an 18-foot ceiling. Along one wall, Ursel has a mound set up so that pitchers can get their work in. Near the other wall, a batting cage is set up, with both closed off by netting.

When other sports like soccer come in, the batting cage netting can be removed in about 20 minutes to clear the space.

Ursel, who is in the construction business, began putting up the building in 2019 and finished it in early 2020 on property owned by his parents.

“The space was ready for April 2020 and we only really had a chance to get some people going through it for a couple of weeks before the COVID shutdown started happening,” Ursel said. “That put a big crimp in everything right off the bat.”

Ursel’s family includes partner Niomie Cummings, 14-year-old Nowell, 11-year-old Eli and eight-year-old Ruby. The three youngsters have been pressed into action as Tyler figures out how to use all the new machinery and technology.

Ursel’s motivation is simple, and will be familiar to many other parents. Nowell was on the edge of being able to play on a performance team, and there were limited opportunities to help him become a better player.

He hooked up with longtime coach and local entrepreneur Faron Asham, which helped, but Ursel thought more should be available.

“Faron Asham is a great teacher but availability, not so much,” Ursel said. “It was basically ‘How can I make it so kids can use technology to be able to learn how to do it?’”

Asham was also involved in the Fieldhouse in the early going, but eventually stepped away to pursue another opportunity with a separate, larger facility that remains in the planning stages.

At the Fieldhouse, the two major focuses are quite naturally on hitting and pitching.

In the batting cage, a new pitching machine is available, but hitters can also work off a tee.

The pitching machine was the last bit of equipment to arrive, and then the exact placement of the plate had to be calibrated so the advanced technology would work. Everything is marked on the floor and even the camera has to be in the perfect spot to provide all the data.

The Pelotero training system runs through HitTrax and charts seven different outputs from a batter, including swing plane, swing direction, exit velocity, bat control, speed and launch angle.

It was created by hitting instructor Bobby Tewksbary, who is perhaps best known for his work with former Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Josh Donaldson.

“It’s like a golf simulator but for baseball,” said Ursel, who is aware of only one other training centre in Manitoba with one.

Hitters can also view video of their swings and chart their progress, and the program also recommends drills based on a batter’s weaknesses.

Interestingly, Ursel quickly discovered the drills they were being put through were similar to the ones Asham used.

“This kind of validates everybody, the fact that these guys from Texas and everywhere are doing the same stuff,” Ursel said. “They base these drills on a 90-swing evaluation that grades you on bat control, swing control, swing plane, power and then it develops a 12-session training program.”

The feedback is instant. If you pass all the parameters, it gives you green numbers. If you aren’t doing something correctly, you get a red number.

“What I really enjoy about it is that it’s turned my job as a dad ‘Keep your arm up, swing harder, plant your feet, use your hands,’ all that stuff and it basically makes it so that they can see the outputs on the screen and understand what it’s looking for,” Ursel said. “Now my job as a dad is to put the ball on the tee and make them start their swing properly and then just cheer them on.

“It makes it much more comfortable.”

On the pitching side, Ursel uses the Mustard app, which involves taking video of pitchers and then sending it to the company. They put it through biometric software that measures several metrics — including things such as length of stride, balance, speed and extension — and also suggests drills to help up shore up weaknesses.

It also provides video of the drills with detailed explanations so that they are done correctly.

A separate app measures pitch speed, location, spin and spin velocity. Since it can be matched with video, a pitcher can later look back at exactly what they did when they threw their best or worst pitches.

“It puts it on the iCloud and you can actually watch yourself pitch,” Ursel said. “If you say ‘How did I throw that one?’ you can actually take a look.”

Mitchell Battersby lends a hand at the Fieldhouse, and can only imagine how nice it would have been to have when he was a youngster.

“I reflect on that and think about it when I’m in there with the kids,” Battersby said. “I think it would have been really beneficial, not only for guys like me and Carter (Loewen), who stuck it out for our whole baseball career, but for some guys who were maybe on the fence and decided to choose hockey over baseball.

“I think it would have kept some of those kids involved.”

The Fieldhouse already has a number of rentals, including camps for the 18-and-under and 11U teams on Sunday and 13U and 15U squads on Monday, which Battersby is involved with organizing. He has been putting the technology to work with the youngsters, and has been impressed with the results.

“It’s crazy,” Battersby said. “It probably took me a month and a half to figure out what all the numbers meant and how to apply it to the younger kids and try to make them understand what happens when they throw the ball.”

To illustrate how detailed the analysis is, he used the example of pitchers who use their middle finger too much in their release, which puts the wrong kind of spin on the ball. The cameras are actually able to show the impact of releasing the ball differently.

He said giving the youngsters readouts on how fast they are throwing also gives them a personal goal.

It also isn’t hurting his own game. He’s spent time in the batting cage and using the pitching technology.

The 20-year-old Battersby plays with and pitches for the Murray Chevrolet Cubs in the Andrew Agencies Senior AA Baseball League.

“I’ve fooled around with it but I don’t want to give away too many secrets to the senior league,” Battersby said with a laugh. “I’ve worked on some stuff and messed around and I think I’ve found some stuff that works.”

While baseball will be a big piece of the Fieldhouse’s future, other sports will also take the field.

Softball organizers have rented the Fieldhouse for clinics, and recreational soccer is held in the space on Wednesdays. While the baseball focus is on getting better, the soccer focus is on participation.

“It’s very unorganized,” Ursel said. “It’s basically like a big gym class where the kids come in and split into teams fairly because we know everybody, give them pinnies and turn them loose.”

Ursel can be reached on Instagram at @thefieldhousebrandon or on his website — thefieldhousebrandon.com — for information or to book the facility.

“I’m taking baby steps, but that’s the goal at the end of the day,” said Ursel, who sits on the Baseball Brandon board. “Everyone who wants to better will have an opportunity to be better, without draining their bank account.”

Battersby certainly likes what he sees.

“It’s a great atmosphere and we have a good thing going,” Battersby said. “Tyler has worked really hard to make sure the kids are involved when they walk in the door. I wish I was lucky enough to be one of those kids some days.”

» pbergson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @PerryBergson