Crane buys players iPads for video purposes

HOUSTON -- When the Astros arrived home from Spring Training last week, they found brand new iPads at their lockers, courtesy of owner Jim Crane. The team had downloaded opposing pitcher and hitter videos to give the players another tool to stay sharp.

Crane said Tuesday the iPads were the brainchild of general manager Jeff Luhnow.

"Jeff had a recommendation that he wanted to download a lot of the stuff they look at -- the video they look at of their at-bats and pitching so they can study the pitching for the next night -- and wanted to give them an iPad when they got back, so we loaded them all up and had them in their lockers when they got back from Spring Training," Crane said. "I think it will be great when they're on the road, they can always work."

Most of the players already have iPads, but Crane wanted to reward them for a long Spring Training.

"It's just a little token of [appreciation for] all the hard work they went through in Spring Training," he said.