The New York Times reports that the Mets are league leaders at least in digital video technology. The Mets have a team recording every event in every major-league game and cataloging them by customizable characteristics. And you thought TiVo was cool?

Piazza, the Mets' slugging catcher, says technology has been at least partly responsible for baseball's offensive explosion over the last decade. "The fact that you can easily see how you've performed against a certain pitcher in a certain situation is a big help now," he said. "I've had pitchers like David Cone tell me that the hitters today are just better. They cover the plate better. They're smarter. It's not the whole story, but video is a big part of that."

It's an interesting theory, but couldn't the tool be used to help pitchers set up opposing batters just as easily? Well, Mr. Piazza has an answer for that, too:

Piazza and other players say the ability to study video is a particular boon to hitters. Pitchers have always been better prepared than batters, some baseball experts say, because starters have several days' rest between starts, giving them the opportunity to study batters they are scheduled to face.

I'm not entirely sold, but it's an interesting argument.

Anyway, the breadth of data sounds very cool as well:

"I have access to whatever happened the previous day in the minor leagues, the major leagues, with all of the amateur scouting that's happening prior to the draft," [Mets asssitant GM Gary] LaRocque said.

What I want to know is when they are going to make it available to the public or at least the blogging community.