NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The Hot Stove might have been cool at this year’s Winter Meetings, with not much traction among the most prominent players on the free-agent and trade markets. But MLB’s annual Baseball Operations Technology Exhibition and Sports Science Expo were as abuzz as ever.

Established in 2018 with 23 vendors, the two-pronged event grew to 58 this year. And with technology at the forefront of athlete development and the huge premium on specialized preparation in baseball today, it’s become one of the fastest-growing -- and most fascinating -- gatherings at the offseason’s jewel event.

The expos at their essence serve as a bridge between MLB and the vendors, with the 30 clubs as the primary. The league doesn’t license any of the merchandise featured or necessarily advocate for them specifically. Rather, they serve as a facilitation.

“This is all about promoting innovation in baseball,” said Chris Marinak, MLB chief operations and strategy officer. “I think for a long time, we've focused on data and technology as a way to make the game better on the field. And this is really about bringing all that together in one place so our clubs can get exposure to as many of the new innovative things that are happening as possible.”

Each vendor offers a unique product or technology, and while some are drastically different from others in scope and application, they all pursue the same goal -- to help baseball players get better.

“We see a lot of repeat companies that are adding new products or new innovations that they didn't have in prior years,” Marinak said. “And so it's not only just exposing an early stage or a new company that's doing something new, but it's also giving the vendors that have already been in baseball a chance to showcase and try new things.”

Nearly each of the 30 clubs visited the expo during the final days of the Winter Meetings.

“It wasn't just like your standard baseball vendors that have been in the past,” said Rob Segedin, director of integrative baseball performance for the Phillies. “Coming from a bunch of different angles that, especially with sports science, that was really cool to bring them in so that way we can just get a holistic view of what technologies we think would impact organizational decision making.”

Trajket Arc, the holographic machine that has the capability to project an image of any MLB pitcher and simulate his release point, spin rate and movement of each pitch, was again front and center, having now expanded to use by 15 clubs. The device couples its proprietary software with Statcast data for teams to utilize with any given pitcher, creating more than 575,000 pitch type simulations. While it's most widely used in Spring Training, many hitters have found it useful in-season, particularly with tracking pitches to keep their timing.

KinaTrax was also on hand sharing information on its markerless motion-capture technology. Its separator from other motion-tracking technologies is that it is markerless, meaning nothing needs to be physically attached to the subject being tracked, so it can be used in games. Specifically, it allows teams to collect in-game biomechanical performance data on players. Every MLB club uses it in some capacity, with 60 total sites in MLB, including the Minors.

Specifically to hitting, SensorEdge utilizes pressure sensors for bats that distribute data on grip pressure. Players can see where they create the most power while focusing on the impact points through the strike zone. A huge byproduct of this has been that its data has also been used for injury prevention analysis.

RAPID Baseball Mobile Pressure Mapping System quantifies player motion through ground pressure-sensing technology, distributing real-time insight into optimizing the body’s lower half for hitting, pitching, fielding, catching and baserunning.

Trajekt, KinaTrax, SensorEdge and Rapid Tech were each among the vendors that were toured at the expo during an extensive visit with MLB Network.

“It has been pretty remarkable in seeing kind of just the change of -- I wouldn't say attitude, but perspective from a player who didn't come up with any type of technology,” said Segedin, who played in the Majors from 2016-17. “They're now trying to understand how it could facilitate their development.”

The presence of the expos allows the platform to reach all 30 MLB clubs, as most of these organizations aren’t able to get in front of the entire league throughout the year due to budget or time constraints.

“Our role in baseball, given the long history of baseball and using technology and innovation, is that we really want to get the vendors to the clubs … to draw connections to make it easier for clubs to link up so that these new innovative technologies can reach as many of our teams as possible,” Marinak said.

The obvious follow-up question in this age of innovation is, what’s next?

“AI is all over the place, and everybody's talking about how it's going to impact the game,” Marinak said. “I think some of the stuff that we've seen on chat is really interesting, but now it's a question of how do you pass that along to other practical use cases?

“We looked at companies that collect force on the arm, force on the elbow, grip, spanning stance, how they're collecting all this data about your biomechanics and how you're playing the game. Can AI add value to that by identifying trends, by identifying gap areas, identifying ways to optimize your biomechanics for your performance? I think that's going to be an area we see a lot of growth in in the next couple of years.”