- Jun 12
- 3 min read
Academy Prep Center of Lakeland students traded in their typical curriculum this week for unique lessons on the science behind baseball - led by the Tampa Bay Rays.
The team’s Science of Baseball program, now in its fifth year, offers a fun and engaging way to supplement traditional classes at Academy Prep campuses in Lakeland, Tampa, and St. Petersburg. Staff members spend five days at each school providing underserved middle school students with STEM education that encompasses subjects such as geometry, physiology, and statistics.
Rays staff members have taught over 5,600 total hours to more than 400 students since the program’s inception in 2022. Vinsha Sarpeshkar, the team’s vision science coordinator, explained the intersection of eyesight and thought processing on Tuesday.
“To me, it’s bringing the classroom into the real world,” Sarpeshkar said. “We always sit in front of books, trying to figure out how this is going to be relevant. We’re now applying this to something that is fun, that they do for enjoyment.”
Understanding the science behind baseball can mean the difference between winning and losing a game in what is now an analytics-driven sport. The Rays have earned a reputation for innovating on and off the field, which helps compensate for having one of the lowest payrolls in the major leagues.
Sarpeshkar said his lesson was based on a magic trick that involved anticipation, contrast sensitivity, and depth perception. “The ability to bring those three skills together allows us to pull off the greatest magic in all of baseball, which is hitting a home run.”
Winter, a 7th-grade student, said she could apply the lesson to daily life by correctly distinguishing the distance between two objects, “even if one seems bigger and the other one seems smaller.”
“My favorite thing about what I learned today is probably the fact that you can tell where the ball is going based on how it’s spinning,” she added.
Angelo, also in 7th-grade, said he learned about the “computation” behind the “magic of baseball. As someone who plays the sport, his favorite aspect of the day’s lesson was realizing the importance of analyzing a pitcher “even before he pitches the ball.”
Angelo answered correctly when asked how long a batter has to make a decision on if, when, or where they should swing after the ball leaves a pitcher's hand. “About the blink of an eye,” he replied. “So, like 400 milliseconds.”
Academy Prep is a tuition-free, private middle school dedicated to inspiring and empowering economically disadvantaged students. The nonprofit institution offers a supportive environment for students who may not succeed in traditional academic settings.
Academy Prep’s overarching goal is to help underserved youth become future community leaders through rigorous programming and ongoing graduate assistance. At a 2025 event on the St. Petersburg campus, Gina Barkett, head of school, said the Science of Baseball initiative fosters enthusiasm for STEM education.
“You’re always looking for opportunities to show children how real-life experiences impact them when it comes to math and science,” Burkett continued. “A lot of times, they don’t see that in the classroom.”
Sarpeshkar echoed that sentiment on Tuesday. This is his third year participating in a “great” program that he has “always wanted to do from the get-go.”
His lesson starts with something “very simple,” the ability to see, and then highlights how “our eyes and brains work together in us to achieve a goal,” Sarpeshkar explained.
“We can actually apply this to something that is fun. And to me, seeing that realization in the kids’ eyes is the best thing that we can ask for.”
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