Vanderbilt brings frenetic film study to baseball – The Tennessean
Adam Sparks, asparks@tennessean.com 
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Tim Corbin uses non-traditional teaching techniques for baseball by condensing an entire game into a few minutes to show his team the highlights.
Game film is not a typical baseball coaching tool. But then again, Vanderbilt’s Tim Corbin is not a typical baseball coach.
“Video is a coach in itself to the kids,” Corbin said. “These kids were born with a camera in their face. Whether it’s Instagram or Facebook or Twitter, it’s a visual moment for them. It incorporates a picture.
“So to see themselves in video, it’s probably right up their alley.”
The No. 1 ranked Commodores (27-6, 10-2 SEC) first utilized game film during a national championship run last season, and Corbin has expanded its use since then with upgraded high-tech equipment and access to SEC Network telecasts.
“Film study is more in the football coaching realm, but I like it,” Corbin said. “It’s a very visual world we live in, and you want to acquire as much as you can to help the kids.”
About three times a week players gather in the team classroom for film study, but it’s not a tiresome frame-by-frame lecture like one would expect.
Instead, each three-hour game is squeezed into a 15-minute condensed version. Only “result plays” are viewed, including outs, hits, the last pitch of a strikeout or walk, a stolen base, wild pitch or passed ball.
It’s the model MLB.com developed to grab the fleeting attention of a generation of kids not interested in watching a three-hour baseball game. Corbin has used it to teach his players the finer points of the game in small snippets.
“I dare to say, I don’t know how much kids watch baseball off to the side of playing the game these days,” Corbin said. “They don’t sit and watch a game for hours like the rest of us did. So film study helps them learn the game with a holistic approach. It’s how instinct is built.”
Made-to-order video
This year, Vanderbilt began using BATS!, the video editing software utilized by 28 of 30 major league teams.
It not only trims full games into 15-minute condensed versions, but it also provides very detailed clips that can be categorized and accessed by Vanderbilt players anywhere via the internet through a password-protected database.
If All-American pitcher Carson Fulmer wants to see only the fastballs he threw on the first pitch against SEC batters, he can have those specific video clips in seconds. If fellow All-American shortstop Dansby Swanson wants to view every curveball he saw against left-handed pitchers in March, it’s a few mouse clicks away.
“We pride ourselves on preparation here,” Swanson said. “Watching film just gives us a good visual reference for guys we are playing against and for our own play. When you watch film like we do, you always feel prepared for games.”
Players can choose how much they watch film on their own, but Corbin has a hunch they like it.
“I haven’t asked them if they enjoy it, but I think they do,” Corbin said. “They’ve got enough of an ego to want to see themselves doing well, making a great play in the field or getting a timely hit. But you’ve got to take the good with the bad.”
Film school
Corbin’s team film sessions run at a frenetic pace, but they occasionally pause to replay a funny moment amid the action of the game.
On one occasion last week, Corbin broke away from reviewing the proper footwork on catching a fly ball to poke light-hearted fun at pitcher Tyler Ferguson, who was caught on video making an animated call for an out.
“So we are an umpire too, huh?” Corbin said to the laughter of the team.
The rest of the time Corbin spends racing through the condensed video, stopping at unexpected points. He shows rightfielder Rhett Wiseman where he made false steps on breaking on a fly ball. When Bryan Reynolds quickly fields a ball off the centerfield wall, Corbin puts the video into slow-motion.
“Young outfielders, watch closely how quick his exchange is off the wall, out of the glove and to the cut-off relay,” Corbin said.
And when shortstop Swanson makes a great stab of a ground ball, Corbin praises the play but focuses more on third baseman Will Toffey, who did not field the ball in order to avoid a collision with a base runner.
“You can go get that ball before it gets to Dansby,” Corbin tells Toffey. “That’s offensive interference if the runner gets in your way. Next time, that’s your ball.”
Players gobble up the information and apply it to the field moments after each meeting.
“Corbs is great at giving us pointers in very specific ways,” catcher Jason Delay said. “We see the right and the wrong on the screen.”
Field to screen
Within 20 minutes of sitting down, players have viewed every “result play” of the previous game and been briefed on their next opponent via video and Corbin’s succinct notes. But it took more time to produce an efficient film study.
Each game, Vanderbilt director of video operations Sam Wild monitors the BATS! software for every pitch and directs it to the proper channels.
Last year, it took Wild hours to manually cut up the game film. Now, the software allows him to put it on Corbin’s laptop and in the players’ database within minutes of the game’s final pitch.
“That’s why those video people are so important,” Corbin said. “You are going to see time and money moved into that direction of video, but we have already done it.”
Corbin watches most condensed videos immediately after the game. He then pares them with audio notes he takes on a digital recorder from the dugout during each game. By the next morning, he has a concise presentation ready to roll out when his players arrive.
“This helps them visually rather than just a practice environment,” Corbin said. “They see it in motion, and they can correct it. You have to continue to reach these kids in a way that’s current. Video does that.”
Reach Adam Sparks at 615-259-8010 and on Twitter @AdamSparks.
NEXT GAME
NO. 1 VANDERBILT (27-6, 10-2 SEC) vs. LIPSCOMB (18-11, 1-2 A-SUN)
When: 6:30 p.m. Tuesday
Radio: 560-AM, 95.9-FM
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