MLB Taps Pixellot’s Live Streaming Solutions for Draft League, Appalachian League Broadcasts

MLB and Pixellot have announced an agreement to film, produce, and broadcast games from the newly created Draft League and the legendary Appalachian League.

“We are excited to partner with Pixellot for the first seasons of the new Appalachian and MLB Draft Leagues,” says John D’Angelo, Vice President and Head of Amateur and Medical at Major League Baseball. “This partnership will provide the highest quality video coverage for families and fans in local and regional markets, while also showcasing players’ talents more broadly through state-of-the-art automated production technology. Pixellot will help us capture all the action for local communities, scouts and baseball fans everywhere.”

As part of the agreement, MLB will install Pixellot systems at 17 venues. Pixellot’s end-to-end solution will enable the capture, production, and live-streaming of all games and practices. The new multi-camera system fully automates the entire game production without the need for a single camera operator, director, or producer. Utilizing artificial intelligence, Pixellot’s technology is able to automatically detect the game state, switch camera angles, zoom in on the ball, track the players and provide a professional production. Fans will have access to live and on-demand content while coaches and scouts will be able to get breakdowns, analytics, and player highlights using the integrated VidSwap analytics and video coaching platform.

The MLB Draft League is the first league in the country focused on top prospects who are eligible to be drafted by MLB Clubs, while the historic Appalachian League functions as a collegiate summer league and part of the Major League Baseball and USA Baseball Prospect Development Pipeline (“PDP”).

“We are thrilled to know that our newest technological breakthrough – fully automated multi-angle live production – will serve the future stars of Major League Baseball,” says Pixellot President of North America, David Shapiro. “Baseball is a complex game to film and as a result, is usually expensive to produce. Pixellot’s new multi-angle solution DoublePlay will use AI to switch between cameras and create for the first time ever, a TV-like viewing experience without any operators. We believe that the new solution will help democratize baseball and softball coverage at a level never experienced before, bringing excitement, value, and joy to fans, coaches, and scouts.”