What factors really affect the results of a baseball swing? Is it vision, speed, balance, equipment, human anatomy or the laws of nature? All of these seem to play a key role, but which one is the most critical to success? Without vision, you can’t see the ball. Speed and quickness are desired in every sport, including baseball. Balance helps players have a solid stance and the right posture at the plate. Without the right equipment, you can’t hit the ball far. A strong, healthy, human body could help athletes hit the ball further. The laws of nature definitely affect the distance the ball will travel.
Vision
Everyone has heard people say when you swing a baseball bat to “keep to your eyes on the ball.” Vision is surely a major part to hitting a baseball. If you don’t have
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Speed
Experts debate whether bat speed is the single greatest factor affecting hitting, but some say hand speed is more impactful. Time to impact is very important for a baseball swing. If your time to impact is too slow, your bat will cross the plate after the ball is in the catcher’s mitt.
Some players cheat and hollow out the bat and replace it with cork material to gain a lighter bat
(and faster bat speed.) According to Pocket Radar.com data has shown that every one mile per hour of bat speed increases the length of a hit by five feet. If you have faster bat speed, your exit velocity will increase the distance the ball travels. Hand speed is also a component of bat speed and is known to be very important to a good baseball swing.
Laws of Nature
Sir Isaac Newton’s discovery of the concept of gravity comes into the picture every time baseball players take the field. Many baseball coaches instruct hitters to ‘hit down on the ball’ to produce ground balls and avoid hitting fly balls which results in outs. Very steep upward swings
result in pop flies while downward swings produce ground balls. According to Zepp
Another exciting characteristic of aluminum bats is the speed at which the ball leaves the bat compared to the speed that it leaves a wooden bat. A one time representative of Louisville Slugger, J.W. MacKay, says “When a ball is traveling at 94 miles per hour as it leaves the bat, a pitcher has four milliseconds to respond…you can’t react that fast”(Palmer 2). Studies show the bats have enough power to propel balls at speeds up to 123 miles per hour, up to 30 mph faster than balls struck with wooden bats. In a memorandum written to the NCAA, Cedric W. Dempsey states that “traditional wood bats when swung at 70 miles ...
The game of baseball can be divided into three broad categories: hitting, pitching, and defense. No other facet of the game gets as much attention as hitting. For example, every year the MLB puts on a home run derby. No other part of the game draws as much attention. The traditional statistic that measure hitting ability is batting average (BA or AVG). To find a players batting averag...
Many people might think that swinging the bat straight through the ball would be enough to hit the ball a decent distance off the bat. There's many more mechanics involved in the swinging process. Muscle has only a small part to play in the swinging a bat for power. There are two types of mechanics involved while swinging a bat, Linear and Rotational. Rotational mechanics are the dominant source of power in the swing. Out of the rotational mechanics come the two forces that help generate the speed and power of the swing, torque and the other comes from the energy of rotation. Speed from the energy of rotation comes from the path that your hands follow as you swing the bat. The speed generated by the circular rotation from your hands is like a ball at the end of a string, as long as your hands are moving in a circle then the ball continues to accelerate in a circle. So the bat will also move in at an increasing speed as long as your hands are following a circular path as you swing. Any foward movement of the hands or body in a straight line won't add to the overall bat speed.
My science report is about whether a corked aluminum bat hits a ball farther than a regular aluminum bat. But first before I get into that boring science stuff, I’ll tell you about the history of baseball. Baseball originated in American before the Civil War (1861-1865) the game was called rounders and was played in sand lots. The first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869. During the 1950’s and 60’s the MLB really took off, it was a time for expansion for the American league and National league. Then new turf fields and new bigger stadiums changed the game forever in the 80’s, But in the 90’s it was all about getting home runs. There have been 245,913 home runs hit in MLB history, and that’s where the physics of cheating in baseball comes in.
The researcher has chosen to write this paper on hitting because she has played softball for twelve years and the perfect softball swing has always eluded her. The softball swing is one of the most difficult softball skills to achieve greatness in. There are a number of great hitters all with different batting stances and styles, each one comfortable to them. There are many different tactics and coaching ideas out there to help improve hitting. In fact, there are several videos now on the market to help the softball player perform better. Coaches often teach hitting drills to improve batting techniques and ability. Confidence is an important factor in hitting. If the player lacks confidence then she will not be a good hitter. Softball is not only a physical game but a mental game.
It’s a Sunday afternoon and the whole family is over at grandmother’s house playing a fun game of pickup baseball until they realize they do not know how to hit a baseball. Luckily it is a rather simple process that can easily be taught and learned.
Baseball is a fascinating sport that is exceptionally fun to play. This assignment is all about understanding the physics of a few key aspects of this sport. One might ask what physics could have to do with baseball? Like most sports baseball involves physical motion. Baseball encompasses all three planes of motion through throwing, hitting, and fielding. All of the classical laws of mechanics can be applied to understand the physics of this game.
A dedicated baseball player shows up ready to play and succeed in whatever situation may arise. Baseball is a mental game, and concentration is key to keeping a player mentally prepared. Baseball is both a fast and slow sport, as it is slow between pitches, but very intense during them. During pitches, it is a players time to regroup and think of all the situations that could arise during the next pitch. During the play, everything happens fast, and there is no time to think about what to do, it is all instinct, so the ability to avoid mental errors is crucial.
The most common off speed pitch is a curve ball because it has a lot of movement if it is thrown correctly. To throw this pitch you use the same wind up but when you get to the point of throwing the ball, instead of throwing it regularly you snap your wrist to make the ball spin. In order to get a lot of movement you have to throw the ball with a little bit less velocity. It is important to be able to throw a curve ball while pitching.
Throwing a baseball is a lot like throwing any other object. Children grow up throwing things around the house, and it very similar to how you throw a baseball. From a young age, I grew up throwing objects around the house. My father was smart enough to recognize this trend and sign me up for baseball later on when I was much older. To throw a baseball you first need to understand the shape of the object. The baseball has seams around the circumference which are placed around the outer edges of the baseball for added grip. Before we get into the types of pitches and grips, we need to understand the arm and body movement. The movement of your body and arms happens in many steps that follow a fluid form to increase accuracy
Its America’s pastime. Since 1869, the MLB has been the sweetheart of American sports. A requisite to be a true American is to have a conceptual understanding of baseball; the seventh inning stretch, “Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” as well as hotdogs and warm summer nights at the ball park are all favorite memories of American pastime. However, what one might not realize is the extreme physics behind the game. The velocity of the pitch, and degree of the ball exiting the bat, the exit speed, and how an outfielder throws are entailed within the physics of baseball. It is important to understand the physics involved with baseball to grow in understanding and appreciation of the sport.
The first step to mastering the art of catching is to be physically and mentally prepared. It starts by having the proper equipment. This is more of a preference than anything. One should feel comfortable behind the plate while being well protected. It is also important to have the desire to fill the role of the catcher on a team. This simply means one must be knowledgeable in what he or she is doing while also having the motivation to play the position.
"Think. Don't just swing. Think about the pitcher, what he threw you last time up, his best pitch, who's up
Baseball has always been America’s natural past time. Many fans love watching baseball but do not realize how hard it is to prepare for a season. Most fans think the players just show up on the first day. I think this belief is completely false. I feel that preparing for a baseball season requires much preparation. The preparation I use includes working on my swing, working out, and studying other people’s ideas on hitting. These steps are necessary for me to have a successful season. These steps have proven to be a valuable aid in helping me to prepare for the season. I believe these steps are the basic steps to becoming a great baseball player.