MLB to Fully Regulate Use of Technology/Data in Amateur Scouting Too

In a memo provided to front offices Thursday, Major League Baseball informed teams it will be regulating the access and usage of technology and data in amateur scouting and amateur player evaluation. In December, it was reported Major League Baseball is doing the same thing with Minor League Baseball data. 

The memo Thursday continues the league's efforts to centralize and regulate all in-game tech and data systems across the sport's landsape. While it's marketed as a shift toward creating parity, competitive balance and a leveling of the playing field between rich teams and poor teams, the subject is a bit more complicated and nuanced than that. It will have far-reaching effects beyond standardizing where teams get their data. 

Up until this point, individual MLB teams could sign into partnerships with any vendor they wanted. Ball-tracking companies, bat-tracking companies, biomechanics companies, video companies, etc. Major League Baseball had something of an "arms race" going on in front offices as the pursuit of a competitive advantage never seemed to slow. Teams with owners that were willing to spend more money on analytics could beef up their access and usage of big data with companies that provided biomechanics, motion capture, high-speed cameras, tracking, and analytics. 

Those days are over... kind of.

According to the memo sent to front offices, as well as sources with more direct knowledge of the new rules, teams will have the ability to opt-in to specific packages with league-approved vendors. Major League Baseball will then provide those packages to teams. Team communications with the third-party private vendors will likely cease almost entirely. 

There will still be opportunities for teams to spend more than others. Let's say one organization wants full access to amateur Trackman packages, but doesn't find as much value in bat tracking data from a company like Blast Motion (as an example). The organizations that opt-in to (and spend money on) the Blast Motion packages will have a notable advantage, especially if they find valuable ways to use that data. Major League Baseball will house data packages from approved vendors they execute partnerships with. Companies like Trackman, Blast Motion, Edgertronic and K-Vest are only a few in the significant pool of packages likely to become available to teams. 

Existing partnerships between teams and technology/analytics providers may end if that vendor does not become an approved MLB partner. 

The change has wide-ranging effects for scouts in the field too. It will no longer be allowed for teams to setup cameras at ballparks to capture footage of players with their own hardware. Video captured by scouts will be allowed, but nothing setup semi-permanently at a venue with the intent to capture extended looks at players. As an example. last season, multiple teams had semi-permanent cameras setup at Corona High School to capture every pitch from Seth Hernandez from multiple angles. Teams had cameras setup at Mount Vernon High School to get multiple angles of every Xavier Neyens plate appearance. The list goes on. These sorts of setups will no longer be allowed. Front offices will have access to any footage that Major League Baseball captures, again, as a paid package.

NOTE:   Team-owned cameras and their residence/positioning at amateur venues is still something of a grey area. League sources will gain clarity on that in the coming days. -- 9:35pm PST

Supporters of the changes will continue to suggest this will improve parity. It will give poorer teams access to more information and tools. This is also probably a net-positive for technology companies that have struggled to strike deals with more than a few organizations. Having their product league-approved, and purchased for a bigger fixed cost, will probably provide more revenue and stability to those companies. The flip side of this is innovation will almost certainly be curbed.

From this chair, jobs will likely be lost with this change beginning in 2027 after the new CBA is executed. If every team has access to the same information, and collaborations with bleeding edge technology comparnies will no longer be as accessable, positions will likely be deemed redundant. Front office expansion will likely slow. 

This also creates the risk of under-the-table deals between organizations and tech companies. Organizations haven't always played by the rules, and this feels like a prohibition that could spark more non-approved dealings.

Furthermore, what is stopping a rich organization like the Los Angeles Dodgers from buying a technology start-up company and calling that product their own when this is finalized. Sure, rich teams can't buy or subscribe to a product's data and analytics, but it sure seems like buying the product as a whole could be on the table. There's nothing in the rules that states a team can't purchase a product in its entirety and call it their own R&D.

These new rules took effect on January 1, 2026. Teams will receive all of their data from Major League Baseball for the 2026 Draft, unless that data was collected prior to the new year. 

The centralization of data in Major League Baseball is a significant change in front offices. Time will tell if it's a net positive or a net negative. There are two justified arguments on both sides of the aisle. That said, from this chair, the chance of lost jobs, generalized contraction in the sport and stymied innovation is a difficult pill to swallow.

Rumors of another level of Minor League Baseball being cut in the new CBA, as well a shortening of the MLB Draft further suggest cost-saving measures for team owners remain at the forefront of priorities.