FEATURE ARTICLE
Predicting a Baseball's Path
A batter watches the pitcher's motion plus the spin on the ball to calculate when and where it will cross the plate
A. Terry Bahill, David Baldwin, Jayendran Venkateswaran
When a major-league pitcher delivers a 95-mile-per-hour fastball, a
batter gets one-quarter of a second to assess the oncoming ball and
decide whether and where to swing. That problem in perceptual and
motor skills grows even more complicated because a pitcher can
choose from a half-dozen or more pitches, all delivered at various
speeds with different trajectories. Just in time for the first pitch
of the season, the authors explain the physics behind various
pitches and how a batter might get an edge by analyzing the
appearance of a pitch. This research also gives pitchers a few tips
on ways to better disguise a pitch.
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