Main League Baseball may have started in the nineteenth century and come of age in the twentieth, but it’s no stranger to know-how, whether it’s using the cloud to store and analyze massive amounts of data or figuring out how to personalize and improve the experience of fans. MLB uses a variety of technology to do this, ranging from specialized video search and Statcast for enhanced statistics to streaming and mobile apps and games for its fans. The league has already accepted NFTs and is looking at AR and VR as it strives to take use of whatever technology is available that is relevant to baseball.
I chatted with Vasanth Williams, the league’s head of engineering and chief product officer, to learn more about the technology that’s being implemented and how it’s being used. Baseball has its fingers in so many technological pies, according to Williams, that he doesn’t have a regular day.
“It’s difficult to have a regular day since the variety of our portfolio products is so vast.” However, my top priority is to increase fan engagement by utilizing all of the new technologies and information available to not only better understand the sport or the data we generate, but also to create new and exciting experiences for fans in ways that will help them connect with baseball and the group as a whole,” he said.
Williams worked for MLB after stints at Microsoft, Facebook, and Amazon, so he’s familiar with Big Tech. He said he saw a chance to work at a place that’s always attempting to innovate and capitalize on available know-how. “MLB has a long history of utilizing expertise and technology, as well as being an early user of a variety of technologies, which I like doing. “I’m excited to be a part of the adventure to continue that and push the edge in sports activities expertise as a whole,” he stated. MLB initially worked with Amazon Web Services to build its cloud stack, but it has now switched to Google Cloud. The league is currently designing a platform for developing goals that may be used by certain groups.
