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Explaining a fastball: All You Need to Know

December 13, 2018

Explaining a fastball: All You Need to Know

     - What is a fastball?

 


 

If you are looking to learn baseball then you should know that the fastball is the first pitch which you should learn. It is easy to control and unlike other pitches, you can easily get a good grip of the fastball. If you have watched baseball then you know that successful baseball players can put the ball where they want: they have control. If you love playing in an online casino and are looking forward to a game you will like, try out fastball.

When you get a look at some of the "power pitchers" in American Major League Baseball such as Nolan Ryan and Roger Clemen then you know that fastball heavily relies on speed. For instance, like the pitchers named above might have thrown a fastball at a speed of 95-105 miles per hour.

There are two basic types of fastballs: the four-seam baseball and the two-seam baseball. The speed of a baseball heavily relies on the type of fastball.

Moreover, a fastball is also dependent on how the pitcher holds it. For instance, if the ball is released with the fingers pointed up then it is unlikely to move much. However, if the ball is thrown with the fingers side to side with each other then it is likely to spin much faster.

Explaining fastball's unexpected twist.

The Magnus effect is the force in a spinning object through a fluid like air. So the force can either make the ball spin forward or drop. However, it is good to note that the force cannot defy gravity.

Barton Smith, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Utah State University recently remarked that a twist from a fastball can make the difference between winning and losing the World Series.

Smith together with his counterpart Sakib has been conducting studies to prove that there are a lot more forces in action in a fastball other than the Magnus force. According to them, a two-seamed fastball can easily change direction, unlike a four-seam baseball.

If you take a look at a two-seamed fastball it moves faster than a four-seamed baseball. It is gripped a little bit tighter and deeper. Thus if you are throwing the fastball and you are a right-handed pitcher then the ball is likely to be hit by a right-handed pitcher. The same would happen to a left-handed pitcher.

Smith and Sakib used a technique known as particle image velocimetry. They used this method to track the velocity field around the ball and the direction it took. The two found out that the two seamed fastballs had a tilted pitch once it was released. Thus it easily changed the direction.

However, the experiment is yet to be clarified by a real pitcher. If the findings are found out to be true then baseball will a whole bit. Most pitchers will have to learn how to master and control the two seamed baseballs on whole new level.

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