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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20160505041714/mailto:/?subject=AI%20may%20help%20Japan%27s%20baseball%20champs%20rewrite%20%27Moneyball%27%20&body=Here%20is%20something%20from%20Nikkei%20Asian%20Review%20that%20might%20interest%20you%3A%0D%0AAI%20may%20help%20Japan%27s%20baseball%20champs%20rewrite%20%27Moneyball%27%20%0D%0Ahttp://s.nikkei.com/1rb9f1U">Mail</a></li> </ul> </div> <div class="article-box"> <div class="detail"> <div class="feature-article"> <div class="date-area">May 2, 2016 9:00 am JST</div> <h1 class="title">AI may help Japan's baseball champs rewrite 'Moneyball' </h1> <p>TAKASHI SUGIMOTO, Nikkei staff writer</p> </div> <img src="/web/20160505041714im_/http://asia.nikkei.com/var/site_cache/storage/images/node_43/node_51/2016/201604/20160429t/hawksai1/4432489-1-eng-GB/HawksAI1_article_main_image.jpg" width="580" alt=""/> <p class="img-caption"> Hawks players celebrate after winning their fifth straight game on April 21. <span class="img-credit"> © Kyodo </span> </p> </div> </div> <div class="article-box detail"> <div class="wysiwyg_area"> <div class="articleBodyText"> <p>FUKUOKA -- About a month into Japan's professional baseball season, the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, the 2014 and 2015 national champions, are doing no worse. Many say the team's strong lineup is underpinned by the cash-rich <a href="/web/20160505041714/http://asia.nikkei.com/Company/0029XB-E" target="_self" alt="0029XB-E" class="mwMoTrg">SoftBank Group</a>, a big telecom and technology group.</p><p>The reality is quite the reverse. Unlike their rivals, the Hawks are a stand-alone club, though one with the financial leeway to allocate profits to areas where the front office sees fit, such as player development and information technology.</p><div class="page_limit free"></div><div class="page_limit"></div><p>With the help of its tech-savvy parent, the club may be about to rewrite "Moneyball," the 2003 bestseller about how a Major League Baseball team in the U.S. used statistical analysis to beat high-spending opponents.</p><p><b>AI coach</b></p><p>Behind the backstop, way up in the seats at the Yahuoku! Dome, a strange device appeared this season. It's called TrackMan. Inside the simple, black box is a radar system that can follow bullets. Its technology was born out of the development of the Patriot interceptor missiles that U.S. forces use. Cool-headed TrackMan automatically records each pitch, the type, angle, direction, speed, spin rate and break.</p><p>TrackMan itself is nothing new. The Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles and Major League Baseball teams use similar devices. But the Hawks, who play in the city of Fukuoka, are a step ahead. With the help of the SoftBank Group, the team is developing a prediction system based on artificial intelligence, or AI.</p><p>First, TrackMan has to accumulate reams of data, then engineers can go to work on a process called deep learning, or active machine learning, that forms the essential part of AI.</p><p>Sabermetricians have long collected and analyzed the data produced by every pitch and every batted ball in a baseball game. They pore over players' individual stats, game results, even how each stadium plays into wins and losses. When teams started using sabermetrics, their primary goal was to put hunches aside and themselves in better position to win.</p><p>The Hawks' AI-based approach, however, promises to mimic the processing of electrical signals in the neural network of a human brain. AI will come up with its own strategies to beat opponents.</p><p>In a few years' time, Hawks players may spend their pregame time in the locker room looking at a tablet with personalized advice on what types of pitches to expect, how fast they will be and how to hit them.</p><div class="object-center"> <div class="object-center fb"> <div class="object-center"> <div class="js_enlarge"> <a href="javascript:%20void(0);" class="mwTrg" alt="zoom_114195"> <div class="image-side"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20160505041714im_/http://asia.nikkei.com/var/site_cache/storage/images/node_43/node_51/2016/201604/0427t/20160428hawksai/4427126-1-eng-GB/20160428HawksAI_middle_320.png" alt="" class=""><p class="date-area img-caption"></p> </div> </a> </div> <div class="modal-zoom" id="zoom_114195"> <a href="javascript:%20void(0);" class="js_close fb">Close</a> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20160505041714im_/http://asia.nikkei.com/var/site_cache/storage/images/node_43/node_51/2016/201604/0427t/20160428hawksai/4427126-1-eng-GB/20160428HawksAI_article_main_image.png" alt="" class=""></div> </div> </div> </div><div class="page_break auto free"></div><div class="page_break auto"></div><p><b>Bulk up</b></p><p>The Hawks have also created envy by being able to amply invest in player development. In April, the club opened a baseball park in southern Fukuoka Prefecture. The field at Hawks Baseball Park Chikugo is the same size as that of the Yahuoku! Dome. The new diamond and training facility cost 6 billion yen ($55.4 million).</p><p>In 2011, the club established a second reserve team for young players. Outfielder Yuki Yanagita -- who last year for the Hawks batted .363, hit 34 home runs and stole 32 bases -- once played on this developmental team.</p><p>To continue making these kinds of investments, the Hawks need to a stable cash flow. As a stand-alone company, the team cannot rely on its parent corporation to cover losses.</p><p>Right now, that's not a problem. In the year to February 2015, the club logged a net profit of 2.8 billion yen.</p><p>The Hawks defy the conventional view in Japan that baseball teams are merely advertising signage and it is therefor OK for them to lose money.</p><p>But even Hawks President Yoshimitsu Goto doesn't seem too worried about profits. "Things don't work," he said, "if you care too much about the bottom line."</p><p><b>A real World Series</b></p><p>Goto, it should be pointed out, is also in charge of the parent corporation's finances. A former banker, he led the SoftBank Group's 1.8 trillion-yen acquisition of U.S. mobile carrier Sprint in 2013.</p><p>He says that the group uses a financial yardstick specially developed for the Hawks. The measure is referred to as adjusted profit. It is arrived at by subtracting player salaries and intragroup transactions from the club's operating profit. The club's aim is to maximize the profit, Goto said.</p><p>Think of it as trying to boost gains by bulking up rather than shedding fat.</p><div class="object-right"> <div class="object-right fb"> <div class="object-right"> <div class="js_enlarge"> <a href="javascript:%20void(0);" class="mwTrg" alt="zoom_114339"> <div class="image-side"> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20160505041714im_/http://asia.nikkei.com/var/site_cache/storage/images/node_43/node_51/2016/201604/20160429t/hawksai2/4432478-1-eng-GB/HawksAI2_middle_320.jpg" alt="" class=""><p class="date-area img-caption"> Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of the SoftBank Group, celebrates with fans after the Hawks advanced to last year's national championship series. </p> </div> </a> </div> <div class="modal-zoom" id="zoom_114339"> <a href="javascript:%20void(0);" class="js_close fb">Close</a> <img src="https://web.archive.org/web/20160505041714im_/http://asia.nikkei.com/var/site_cache/storage/images/node_43/node_51/2016/201604/20160429t/hawksai2/4432478-1-eng-GB/HawksAI2_article_main_image.jpg" alt="" class=""><p class="date-area"> Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of the SoftBank Group, celebrates with fans after the Hawks advanced to last year's national championship series. </p> </div> </div> </div> </div><p>"We return our profit to players as much as possible and invest in the fan experience," Goto said.</p><p>The idea is to draw bigger crowds, push up proceeds and free up cash to put back into baseball operations. The approach helped the Hawks attract a record 2.5 million fans last season.</p><p>The Hawks' domed home itself helped the team break its attendance record. Back in 2012, when the club bought the stadium for 87 billion yen, the outlay was met with criticism. Yet, it has helped the Hawks save more than 5 billion yen in rent. In addition, being its own landlord has allowed the ballclub renovate the dome and use it for non-baseball events.</p><p>In 2015, the club set up a home run terrace that makes things more exciting for fans sitting beyond the outfield. The terrace's seats have become hugely popular, with 94% of them filled every game.</p><p>Masayoshi Son, chairman and CEO of the SoftBank Group, wants to make the Hawks the best baseball team in the world. Last year, immediately after the Hawks repeated as Nippon Professional Baseball champs, Son called David Glass, owner of Kansas City Royals, last year's (clears throat) "World Series" winner. "Let's hold a world championship," Son said.</p><p>The series never took place, but Son's ambition has not died.</p> </div> </div> <div id="modal-screen_zoom"></div> </div> <div id="0029XB-E" class="cmp-smy-balloon"> <div class="cmp-smy-balloon-inr"> <h3 class="mwmo-title"><a href="/web/20160505041714/http://asia.nikkei.com/Company/0029XB-E">SoftBank Group Corp.</a></h3> <p class="a300ctry">Japan</p> <table> <tr> <th>Market(Ticker):</th> <td>TKS(9984)</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Sector:<br>Industry:</th> <td>Technology Services<br>Information Technology Services</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Market cap(USD):</th> <td>65,679.07M</td> </tr> <tr> <th>Shares:</th> <td>1,200.66M</td> </tr> </table> <div class="more"> <a href="/web/20160505041714/http://asia.nikkei.com/Company/0029XB-E">about SoftBank Group Corp.</a> </div> </div> </div>  <div class="pagination no-border"></div> <div class="related-company"> <h2 class="related-header">Related companies</h2> <p class="company-list"> <a 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