Okay, baseball fans. Live Science has an article that busts various baseball myths. I'd like to address some of them and see if any of you agree with my analysis. First, this is the basis for much of the article:
"In the last few feet before the plate, the ball reaches an angular velocity that exceeds the ability of the eye to track the ball," Fuld told LiveScience. "The best hitters can track the ball to within 5 or 6 feet of the plate."
I would agree with that. In looking back on my baseball days, there did seem to be an instant where there was a lack of input as to what a pitch was doing, and it was right smack dab in front of the plate. Now, onto the specifics.
But a hitter is at the mercy of what the pitch does in those last few feet. That's when their eyes have left the ball and a nasty 12-to-6 curveball--a pitch named after the face of a clock and which drops top to bottom--can make even the best hitters swing out of their shoes. The pitch looks like it comes in straight, but during the instant the hitter is blind to the ball, a good curveball will have dropped a foot or more, and the batter will likely swing over the pitch.
Now I realize that my high school experience is different from the experiences at the collegiate or pro level, and there is a kernal of truth to this statement, but you aren't completely blind in that last 5 or 6 feet. For me, an overhand curve or a curve/slider from a left hander was easy to hit. The pitch gives you plenty of information during its flight to allow you to figure out exactly where it is going. The way it leaves the pitcher's hand, the spin, the spead, and any break you may see all give you enough information to hit the pitch. I'm not sure that I ever saw a curve ball that didn't have a little break to it before it got five feet in front of the plate. This is from a guy who washed out of baseball at the collegiate level. I could hit fastballs, and I devoured overhand curves and left handed sliders/curves. It was the geometry of the right hander's slider/curve that confounded the hell out of me.
Next, the knuckler.
On the flipside are knuckleballs. Even though they're slow-moving and have little to no spin, they flutter erratically, making them one of the most difficult pitches to connect with. As legendary hitting coach Charlie Lau once said, "There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works."
Our rivals had a pitcher who threw a knuckler. Again, a meager high school ballplayer such as myself had no problem hitting his knuckle ball, crushing one to left that the left fielder caught with his back against the 320 sign. Why was a meager ballplayer such as myself able to handle his knuckle ball? Because he threw it damn hard. The pitch probably came to the plate in the upper 70's. The ball danced, but it didn't dance wildly. You could make a good judgement in the last third of its flight as to where it would end up. A big component to a successful knuckle ball is the lack of speed. That makes the pitch flutter more and it contributes to timing issues that make hitting it more difficult.
Next, they take on the rising fastball.
The rising fastball deceives the hitter in almost the opposite way a good curve does. A 90-mph fastball will drop significantly less than one thrown at 80 mph. So instead of dropping a few inches in the last few feet, a fastball with some serious zip will maintain a nearly straight trajectory.
I'm not familiar with anyone that thinks that a fastball can actually rise; most do understand that it is an optical illusion, much like the fastball that seems to explode as it gets to the plate. I can speak to the exploding fastball, as our biggest rivals in high school had another guy who threw in the upper 90's. I once swung at a fastball that he threw and the damn thing seemed to shatter as it got to me. I didn't actually think that the ball exploded-I knew it was an optical illusion.
Finally, they take on fielding a ball.
Any pro would tell you that the hardest ball to catch is a line drive smoked right at them. Sure, there's the fear that it might put a dent in your forehead, but it's the lack of visual information that makes the ball difficult to judge.
When a ball is hit to the left or right of a fielder, the player can observe the ball's velocity, acceleration, and angle to figure out where it might land.
They are dead on with this one. I was an outfielder, primarily in right but I played left early in high school and filled in in center from time to time. Balls to your left or right are easy to judge because you have many reference points with which to judge the ball. Even line drives right at you usually aren't that bad because they have spins (unique to each position) that put just enough curve to the ball as to give you some extra reference points and the ability to predict the path based on past experiences. Every once in a while a hitter smacks a line drive that is right at you and lacking that slice or hook that you are used to. In those instances, the ball is not only tough to judge, it seems to take on some knuckle ball characteristics. I can remember one ball my senior year like this. I made an ass of myself trying to catch it, and I was a very good defensive outfielder.
Their parting shot is on "getting under the ball." This is what got me riled up to write this.
"Good players do not run to a place where the ball will land and then wait for it, but rather catch the ball while running," Fuld said. "This is contrary to what many coaches prescribe, which is to 'get under the ball and not drift on it.'"
Again, a kernal of truth. Catching a fly ball flat footed is an invitation to misjudge the ball. And when runners are on base with less than two outs, you want your momentum to be moving towards the infield when you make the catch so you can get off a quick, hard throw. Having said that, you do run to the place where the ball will land. You then make adjustments from there. When you drift on a ball, your momentum is often not carrying you in the right direction for a throw. Drifting also is a habit of lazy fielders, and that drifting can contribute to half-assing a catch and having it glance off the glove. These guys do a nice job looking at the science of baseball, but it is apparent that they are scientists and not ball players.
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