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Hitting a Major League fastball should be physically impossible
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ConfusingJazz
Member
That is just fucking crazy. Almost no difference from the release whatsoever.
this is so fucking cool, anymore gifs like this?
this reminds me of boxing,where dodging punches literally comes down to reactions and reads.
The batter in this gif kicks his leg and cocks the bat before the pitcher releases the ball. It's anticipation to meet the ball with the bat should the hitter swing if they think it'll be a strike. It's a timing thing, which is why a change up can be a nasty pitch.
brainzelda
Member
There's a reason they call it luckswing.
James Shields gives away major league home runs like he's the Make A Wish foundation.
Tony the Gwynn: .394 in '94
The strike robbed us of his .400 and the Expos' World Series.
The Albatross
Member
great video, and I love the breakdown.
What's cool about this is that most of the same science applies to backyard baseball or slow pitch softball, it's just the window for timing is much greater... And I'd wager most people in this thread have played either backyard baseball or slow pitch softball. So it's like there's this thing that is very, very difficult to do physically, yet we've all done it, and it seems like the most natural thing in the world..
I don't know about that. Consider that the world's greatest baseball players of the day fail at hitting a baseball 7/10 times, and the world's greatest tennis players of the day succeed at returning a serve 9/10 times (I might be wrong here, but just estimating -- does anybody have the ace percentage/ace rate of high level tennis players?). A 90% success rate (Tennis) and a 30% success rate (baseball) by the greatest players in the sport seems to suggest that succeeding at hitting a baseball is more difficult than succeeding at returning a tennis serve.
(edit: Thinking about this more, the 90% number is the wrong way to think about it. IWhile the ball may be returned 90% of the time, not all returns are successful returns. But, still, it should arguably work out to something around 40 - 50%, but I don't know enough about tennis to know the success rate of a serve [e.g., does a tennis player score 70% of the time that he/she is serving? I'd imagine it'd be closer to 55 - 60%?].)
Penalty shootouts are closer to hitting a baseball. In the world cup, penalty kicks score about 71% of the time, so an average goalie success rate of 29%. In baseball, the league batting average is .256 (25.6%). This is pretty close, but it's also a relatively rare event in the sport... It's like saying that recovering an onside kick in American football is the most difficult thing in sports because the success rate is only 10%, but because it's relatively rare it's difficult to compare that to something that happens 100+ times in every baseball game, and dozens of times in every tennis match.
What's cool about this is that most of the same science applies to backyard baseball or slow pitch softball, it's just the window for timing is much greater... And I'd wager most people in this thread have played either backyard baseball or slow pitch softball. So it's like there's this thing that is very, very difficult to do physically, yet we've all done it, and it seems like the most natural thing in the world..
I don't know about that. Consider that the world's greatest baseball players of the day fail at hitting a baseball 7/10 times, and the world's greatest tennis players of the day succeed at returning a serve 9/10 times (I might be wrong here, but just estimating -- does anybody have the ace percentage/ace rate of high level tennis players?). A 90% success rate (Tennis) and a 30% success rate (baseball) by the greatest players in the sport seems to suggest that succeeding at hitting a baseball is more difficult than succeeding at returning a tennis serve.
(edit: Thinking about this more, the 90% number is the wrong way to think about it. IWhile the ball may be returned 90% of the time, not all returns are successful returns. But, still, it should arguably work out to something around 40 - 50%, but I don't know enough about tennis to know the success rate of a serve [e.g., does a tennis player score 70% of the time that he/she is serving? I'd imagine it'd be closer to 55 - 60%?].)
Penalty shootouts are closer to hitting a baseball. In the world cup, penalty kicks score about 71% of the time, so an average goalie success rate of 29%. In baseball, the league batting average is .256 (25.6%). This is pretty close, but it's also a relatively rare event in the sport... It's like saying that recovering an onside kick in American football is the most difficult thing in sports because the success rate is only 10%, but because it's relatively rare it's difficult to compare that to something that happens 100+ times in every baseball game, and dozens of times in every tennis match.
I played for about 13 years and can confirm that hitting a ball 80 MPH and up as being pretty damn hard to do. A ton of it is practice, but a lot of that practice is learning how to better predict pitches/motions of the pitcher. Pitching is fun as hell too. Having heat is definitely a good thing but there's also a lot of pitchers who are experts at throwing junk (off speed pitches, basically anything that's not a fastball). I never had a great arm so I threw a lot of junk and was good at it. Favorite pitches to throw were curveballs and knuckleballs.
DeaconKnowledge
Member
Aces happen roughly 30% of the time. Tennis is a terrible comparison. The ball bounces in front of the player before it's hit by the returner, giving up location and greatly reducing velocity. A tennis player needs only reach the general area with touch to return.
The difficulty in tennis comes from positioning and lateral movement. It's really amazing that you rarely hear of ACL injuries in tennis. Other leagues should take note.
SoRuffShoNuff
Member
Hitting a fastball isn't hard if you know a fastball is coming. As a 12 year old I was able to hit 80 mph fastballs pretty consistently when I took a few pitches to get adjusted to the speed. What's hard is knowing the pitcher has a curveball and change-up so you can't just prepare yourself for fastball the entire time. Expecting a fastball but getting a curve makes you look like a complete fool.
Being able to hit moving pitches is what really separates the minor leaguers from the pros.
Being able to hit moving pitches is what really separates the minor leaguers from the pros.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
We should see VR experiences soon that can simulate what it's like to face major league pitching.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MqtETMlgWk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MqtETMlgWk
Wow, never thought of that. If accurate, this would be an absolute blast.
neurosisxeno
Member
That's Arrieta right? It's funny because he's not even the best pitcher in the league this year. Definitely top 5--and an amazing player--but there are better...
Fenderputty
Banned
Tony Gwynn said he could do this I believe.
CraigerGamer
Member
I cannot comment on saving a penalty kick, but returning a tennis ball is not more difficult only because the bounce of the balls slows the movement down considerably. Also, most serve swing types are easier to pick up, whether its a flat, slice, or kick serve. Even the pros have to either toss the ball in a different sport or swing a bit differently to hit any of those three types of shots. With any amount of practice you can pick up a serve type pretty quickly, add that to waiting for it to bounce, I'd say hitting is a baseball is much more difficult.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
Yeah, there's a lot of awesome VR possibilities for sport related stuff.
No wonder Tulo keeps striking out. Can't even swing in simulation.
Jokes aside, VR seems really disorienting. Would love to try it out.
I honestly never considered the possibilities.. Very exciting indeed. Would love to bat in VR.
Boozed up fathers can't berate their children at the little league field anymore.
Just wait till little Johnny gets home and dad forces him to wear the Occulus...
While some batters might swing at pitches because they are guessing, most swings are because the players can recognize pitches and swing accordingly. They are pros who practice and master the art of hitting the ball. As a former player, (played 15 years) until college, I could hit pitches by looking at where they went rather than guessing. Some people have a natural hand eye coordination that makes them excel at hitting.
I was an OK baseball player, but some people are astoundingly good.
XiaNaphryz
LATIN, MATRIPEDICABUS, DO YOU SPEAK IT
I TOLD YOU NOT TO SWING AT THE CHANGEUP YOU SHIT, PUT THE HEADSET BACK ON!
IrishNinja
Member
Tennis is also different because the server isn't trying to get an Ace every first serve. Often it's safer to serve at 80 or 90 percent and back yourself to win a rally then to risk serving with a fault.
Edit: VR Baseball could be big. It worked for the Wii to a lesser degree. Appropriate controls are going to be very expensive though. Plus you will need a lot of space around you. So it won't fit in most people's office.
I'm most excited for VR laser tag warehouses
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