Predicting On-Field Baseball Performance with Reaction Time Testing
Pison’s Sports Performance and Data Analytics teams presented initial findings on how Pison’s cognitive performance measurements can be used to predict on-field baseball performance. The presentation took place at the 2025 SABR Analytics Conference hosted by the Society for American Baseball Research.
The Pison team included members of Pison’s Sports Performance and Sports Analytics teams who have decades of experience in data analytics and in hands-on performance coaching with athletes in Major League Baseball. They shared the uses and applications of Pison’s neural-sensing wrist wearable device and its cognitive assessments to an audience of baseball analytics researchers and moneyball-era luminaries. SABR Analytics has become a mainstay event for connecting senior industry, academic, and young researchers – all with a passion for baseball.
Pison’s talk (press release here), entitled “Predicting On-Field Baseball Performance with Reaction Time Testing”, was focused on showing Pison’s initial correlative results to show links between the simple reaction time (SRT) of players and specific SABRmetrics concerning on-field performance. Pison findings from five D1 baseball programs in 2024, showed that there is strong correlation between an individual’s SRT and the SABRmetrics related to batting performance. Weaker correlations were highlighted with derivative offensive player metrics, and no relationship with metrics where no relationship was anticipated. This highlights the potential of these cognitive tests, which are accessible to almost anyone in the baseball community, to be used as an assessment tool that holds the potential to predict future on-field performance for individual players. Pison presented an intent to expand our modeling research to additional cognitive tests to provide a more holistic player profile for users, coaches, and scouts.
Engaging discussions among attendees and the Pison team provided the Pison team with opportunities to highlight additional research being conducted in partnership with Coach Steven Cutter, the Lansing Community College Stars baseball team. Specifically, evaluation of pregame routines to determine the group and optimal strategies, in-game engagement and intervention, and the effects of caffeine on cognitive performance. Additionally, Pison discussed upcoming opportunities to conduct larger-scale research with our new partners at Prep Baseball to continue modeling player performance.
Overall, this event was productive, educational and engaging. The SABR community, including Scott Bush, Chief Executive Officer at Society for American Baseball Research, was supportive of Pison’s research and presentation. Pison looks forward to future engagements with SABR and attending the next SABR Analytics Conference!
About SABR Analytics
The SABR Analytics conference is structured as an academic setting with dozens of research presentations, awards, and posters being presented – all intended to enable cross-talk between researchers and exposing college researchers to industry representatives. The gathering has impressive attendance from baseball experts in scouting, assessment, and training, as well as everything from neuroscience researchers to data scientists. SABR Analytics was an ideal audience for Pison’s research presentation on our ongoing research modeling baseball performance with the cognitive assessment measurements from Pison-powered wearables.
