Filming Baseball: Keeping Only the At-Bat

Last updated: September 22, 2026

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Put your phone against the fence by the dugout or behind home plate, open Videotapr, and leave it there. The app keeps the last 30 seconds at all times. When there is a hit, a catch or a run, you tap once and that play is saved — including the pitch that led to it. So you never record nine innings to end up with five moments.

Key facts

Free on Android and iOS — 3 clips a day, no account needed.

Where do I put the phone at a ballpark?

Two positions work, and they give you different footage. Behind home plate, through the backstop, you see the pitch and the swing head-on — that is the angle coaches want for mechanics. From the side by the dugout you see the swing in profile and follow the runner to first.

The backstop costs you less picture than you would think, as long as you push the phone right up against it. The further from the mesh, the sharper the mesh itself appears. So put it against the fence, not half a metre in front of it.

Clip length for each moment in a game

MomentClip lengthWhat ends up on the clip
Pitch and swing10 secondsThe mechanics, side-on or head-on
Hit plus the run to first20 secondsThe ball into the field and the first runner
Double play or run home30 secondsThe whole field in motion

Which clip length suits an at-bat?

Ten seconds covers the pitch and the swing. That is enough if you want to review mechanics, and it is the leanest setting if you are getting through a whole game.

Twenty seconds is what you take when you also want what happens next: the ball into the field, the runner leaving, the fielder diving after it. Thirty is for the rare moments where the whole field moves — a double play, or a run home with a throw coming in.

How do I know when to tap?

That is exactly the question baseball no longer forces on you. With an ordinary camera app you have to start recording before the pitch, which means filming four balls and a walk for every time something happens. With a rolling buffer you tap only after you have seen that it connected.

In practice that means: just watch the game and tap when you cheer. The moment you react is always after the play, and that is precisely what this way of recording was built for.

Try it yourself

Videotapr is free to download for Android and iOS, with 3 clips per day. Pro is a one-time purchase — not a subscription.

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