LAKELAND, Fla. — Each summer, Tampa Bay Rays baseball staff members teach STEM curriculum at Academy Prep classes across the Tampa Bay region.
This week, they're in Lakeland teaching students the science of baseball.
WATCH: Rays staff teach Lakeland students the science of baseball
"To me, it's bringing the classroom into the real world," Rays Coordinator of Vision Science Vinsha Sarpeshkar said. "We always sit in front of books and wonder, 'How is this going to be relevant?' We can actually apply it to something that is fun."
The Rays have built a reputation as one of Major League Baseball's most innovative organizations over the past decade. The front office embraces analytics and the science behind the game to gain a competitive edge.
For the fifth consecutive year, members of the Rays' Baseball Operations Department are bringing that analytical mindset into local classrooms through STEM education.
At Academy Prep in Lakeland, students learned how to distinguish between a fastball and a curveball.
"There can be a different pitch even though you don't really know," Angelo, a 7th-grade student, said. "You have to read it."
"You can tell where the ball is going based on how it's spinning," Winter, a 7th-grade student, added.
And the batter only has a split second to read the ball after it leaves the pitcher's hand.
"About a blink of the eye, so like 400 milliseconds," Angelo said.
Since the start of the program, Rays staff members have taught more than 5,600 total hours to over 400 students. Topics include a baseball clinic day, engineering, technology, graphic design and vision science.
For Sarpeshkar, the program gives students an opportunity to see how classroom lessons extend beyond the textbook.
"Three steps: anticipation, contrast sensitivity, and depth perception," Sarpeshkar said. "The ability to bring those three skills together allows us to pull off the greatest magic trick in all of baseball: hit a home run."
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