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I have intended to stay out of this mess and I will probably regret this but I will attempt to offer the views of an engineer who has been designing for consideration of earth's gravity for 30 years. Due to gravitational forces only; an object with an intial horizontal velocity of 95 mph released on a horizontal line (that is with intial vertical velocity of 0 mph) will drop 2.99 feet in 60 feet of horizontal travel. The path followed is a parabolic arc with its apex at the release point. The calculation is a basic high school physics problem. 95 mph is equivalent to 139.3 ft. per sec.The time duration of travel assuming no loss of horizontal velocity (true only in a vacuum but close enough) is 60 ft. divided by 139.3 ft/sec. or .431 sec. Average gravitational acceleration on earth's surface is approximately 32.2 ft. per sec. per sec. The drop is caculated as 1/2 times acceleration (32.2 ft/(sec squared)) times the time duration squared (.431 x .431). or 2.99 ft.
jxt's statement of 3.5 ft. would presume an initial downward velocity of approx 1.2 ft. per sec. That would mean an initial trajectory of 1.1 degrees below horizontal. Therefore a ball released at 6 ft. above the elevation of the plate at 95 mph at such an angle would arrive at the plate 2.5 ft. above the plate. I am 6 ft. tall and the hollow beneath my knee is 19 inches from the bottom of my shoes meaning that pitch would be a thigh high strike. If the ball had followed it's initial tajectory of 1.1 degrees it would have dropped 1.15 ft. ( tan 1.1 times 60 ft.). Therefore if it arrives at the plate any where between a drop of 1.15 ft. and 3.5 ft. it has NOT RISEN but dropped less than gravity alone would account for. If it arrives with less than 1.15 ft. of drop then areodynamic forces have exceeded or overcome gravitational forces.
Therefore,I can accept the statements that it is not humanly possible to create enough rotation to overcome gravity and that the rising fastball is due to perception because the drop is less than expected for an object traveling 60 feet in less than 1/2 second.
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