Amateur baseball players have always had an interest in tracking their performance using in-depth statistics, seeing video of their play, and leveraging data analytics to improve. However, most of this technology wasn't available to them without a big-league budget.

Below are four apps your baseball league must have if you want to provide your players with world-class tools and an all-star experience. We're only batting .500 ourselves on these (only 2 of 4 are actively in use), but we are looking to improve in 2022.

Plus, many of these apps have Boston Men's Baseball League connections!

400hitter

400hitter is a web-based statistics engine that includes player stats, league standings, league scheduling, umpire assignments, player registrations, and more. Without a doubt, it is the best and easiest-to-use software on the market for amateur baseball leagues.

400hitter was created by Mike Ganley. He joined the Boston Men's Baseball League in 1996 with the MABL Yankees. He quickly realized that the stats, standings and scheduling were not so hot, and set to do something about it. So in 1997, he created 400hitter, and in 1998, he won MVP. Coincidence?

400Hitter keeps track of a player's statistics across their career, wherever they play. So even if a player changes teams or leagues, their statistics remain linked.

Having career stats for players and teams also allows for features not found in other stats apps, such as career leaders by league, career leaders by team, day vs. night splits for a player, and rookie stats.

Each game's line scores, box scores and summary can be viewed online as well as shared via social media. Check out any stats, standings, or scheduling page on our site to see how robust 400hitter can be. Be sure to click 'More' in the top-right corner of any 400hitter page to see some of the lesser known features — such as career leaders by team!

400hitter costs $75 per team and must be used for an entire league to function accurately.

Ganley continued to play in the BMBL through 2009, finishing his amateur career with the MSBL Wayland White Sox. Today, Ganley is the Director of Baseball Systems for the Boston Red Sox.

ChangeUp

ChangeUp goes beyond what a typical pitch counter does to track pitches within a baseball game. It allows coaches to manage pitcher workloads and assess pitcher performance across multiple teams and leagues.

This has never been more important across amateur baseball. Pretend Nick Powers is pitching on your team. Most managers would love to have him on their team, as he won Cy Young in the Commonwealth Amateur Baseball League (CABL) this season, pitching for the Malden Marlins. But did you know he also pitched for the Boston Havoc in the MABL, the Boston Havoc in the MSBL 28+, and the North Shore Baseball League?

How is a manager supposed to track detailed usage and performance across all these different teams? They could look it up, page by page in 400hitter, but that wouldn't really provide any robust pitching performance analytics. Today, this data is available as long as all players' teams and leagues are using ChangeUp.

At the adult amateur level, pitchers use ChangeUp data analytics to understand how effective they are, and managers use it ensure they get strong performance from their staff with fewer trips to the Injured List.

As a whole, the ChangeUp pitching app allows users to:

• Accurately track pitching performance across unlimited teams and seasons
• Ensure compliance with mandated pitch count restrictions and required rest
• Access powerful analytics focused on effectiveness, durability, and safety
• Observe trends and growth by seeing historical player profiles

The ChangeUp platform tracks pitchers from their very first appearance until they hang up their cleats, enabling lifelong career profiles that support training and development. Imagine if you could see your growth over time. It's now possible, one pitch at a time.

Download ChangeUp for free from the Apple App Store. League plan prices vary based on need.

Switcher Studio

Switcher Studio lets you sync multiple Apple devices to livestream directly to Facebook, YouTube, or other social media platforms.

Back in the early days of the internet, MABL games were recorded on cassette tape. After the game, these tapes were rushed to Marc LeMay at iMassRadio. He would convert these tapes to digital audio and by midweek, we'd have the audio of these game on the website. That was 2001.

Fast forward to 2021 where fans and players are not even satisfied with an HD video feed on their mobile phone. Our league webmaster, Dan Field, discovered Switcher Studio and our live sports streaming has been on prime time ever since.

Today, the Boston Men's Baseball League has been streaming many of our playoff games in such a way that makes us look quite professional while we broadcast. Sure, some managers post standard Facebook Live feeds from their phone — and that's better than nothing.

But with Switcher Studio, whoever is producing from their mobile phone can easily add lower-thirds to introduce athletes, roll in prerecorded videos like openers or player interviews, bring in guests to provide remote commentary, and display logos. Plus, you can keep score and track counts with customizable scoreboards. We've even started to play around with shooting with multiple iPhones to capture multiple angles.

Switcher Studio enables family and friends who cannot attend the game to watch and comment on the action as it unfolds. The players can also watch the recordings later to see their favorite performances and which calls the umpire made incorrectly.

Data is not an issue if you have an unlimited data plan with your cell phone provider. It is recommended that you bring an extra battery pack if you plan to stream a full 3-hour game, since the video can quickly drain your battery.

Switcher Studio costs $45 a month, and we shut down the service when baseball season ends.

Realplay

Realplay delivers video of every swing, pitch, and catch that any player makes on a baseball or softball field. Their cameras capture every moment to help players improve, share their highlights, and hold on to memories.

Justin Real is the founder of Realplay. Real joined the Boston Men's Baseball League in 2010 as a member of the Boston White Sox, where he continued to play through 2016. The same year he retired from playing, he started up his company to provide video access unlike anything he ever had access to himself.

Every athlete within the Realplay program has unprecedented access to video of their baseball performance — edited, tagged and posted for them after every game. Their camera systems are installed at fields to provide season long video for each game played.

The video they produce is unmatched at the amateur level. Their split-screen views allow players to understand how to make the physical adjustments that will help their game.

Plus, Realplay offers photo and video albums that can be saved or shared on social media in an unprecedented way. Real-time feedback is now available in a way that never before existed.

Realplay costs $7.99 a month for individuals, or $450 a season for a team. Perhaps some of our BMBL teams could get the system installed at their home field!

Earlier this month, Realplay was named as one of the 101 Best Massachusetts Sports Companies and Startups.