softball speed to baseball speed conversion

[Lefty's Dad]

during the recent WCWS I saw a chart comparing softball pitch speed to baseball pitch speed. Does anyone know the actual equation or know where I can find a similar chart? A friend has a parent that is claiming some outrageous things and she wants to shut her up but wants to have proof in hand. It would great if there was a chart somewhere that showed from 35', 40' and 43' compared to baseball which is what? 60.6'?

[queenbee]

X/43=Y/60.5 Cross multiply and solve will get you what you want. All you have to do is fil X (speed from 43') and you will get the equivilant at 60.5' when solving for Y.

Cant follow, get your sixth grader to help


Example 65MPH from 43' = 91.45 MPH at 60.5'

71MPH at 43' = 100MPH at 60.5'

[Lefty's Dad]

Wow, that was fast! Thanks a bunch. I will probably have to get one of the kids help

[slider201]

Close enough for government work.

Note:
a 65 mph softball pitch crosses the plate at 61 mph.
a 91.45 mph baseball pitch crosses the plate at 85 mph.

The softball's closing speed is less. The time in the strike zone is more.

[Martin]

I was wondering if somebody was going to point that out.

[SSdad]

Don't be too quick to judge on speed alone. Reaction time is a better measurement. It takes less than .4 of a second for a 95 MPH fastball to leave the pitchers hand and cross the plate. It takes .4 to blink. So you would need to come up with the reaction time from 43 feet.

example

how long does it take for a 60 mph pitch

60 miles per hour = 60 miles per 60 minutes

5280 feet in a mile so 5280 x 60 = 316,800

316,800 feet per 60 minutes (divide by 60 to get per minute)

5280 feet per minute or 5280 feet per 60 seconds.

then do your cross multiply

43 x
---- ------
5280 60

5280x= 2580
x= .488 seconds for a 60 mph fastball from 43 feet
and .418 for a 70 mph fastball from 43 feet

***disclaimer---this is math out of my head on the way i would figure it, it does not count for loss of velocity at the end of the pitch, or for the fact that not a single pitcher out there throws from the 43 foot mark, more like 37 or 38 feet with their stride***

corrections welcomed and wanted..

[DunninLA]

Here is a recent post of mine on the College board.

The only difference is that you need to make the comparison from Release point, not the position of the rubber/pitching plate.

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post ... id=2745881

[slider201]

Drag has a big effect on velocity. However, queenbee's method is good enough for Lefty's Dad's purposes.

[Mr. Burns]

When I was young I could throw a baseball 1000 miles per hour. Radar guns weren't invented yet, but it was timed by a guy riding along side the ball on a supersonic motorcycle (some of you will get that). I was so good that they made me pitch from a mile away. At that rate it took the ball six seconds to get from my hand to home plate. Having six seconds, you'd think that the batters would have no problem hitting it right? They didn't.
Closing speed and time in the strike zone make most comparisons invalid.

[Martin]

I tend to agree, especially when having conversations with reasonably-informed people. The closing speed on a baseball is very significant and makes these comparisons almost pointless.

As a neat graphic on a TV broadcast, I don't mind it as long as the anouncers don't go overboard with it. It helps explain to an audience used to MLB velocities that these pitches do get on the batter faster than their relatively-pedestrian mph might otherwise indicate.