[greymule]

In a somewhat related area, I have seen softballs crushed off criminally hot bats do seemingly impossible mid-air tricks, enough so that everyone on the field notices. I've seen line drives (1) corkscrew out to left field, (2) whiz over an infielder's head and drop precipitously to hit in front of the outfield grass, (3) travel just over a leaping F6's outstretched glove and then go over a 10-foot fence 300 feet away, (4) and appear to be headed for center field but shift sharply toward right-center.

I figured maybe the high-tech bats were compressing the balls so much that as they traveled so fast through the air changing shape, they moved around unpredictably. My friend at the university, however, says that some kind of super spin imparted by the bat is the likely cause. (That makes sense. The batter tries the usual upward swing to hit a home run but tops the ball slightly.) The strange effects clearly could not be obtained with a thrown ball, but of course the balls are traveling off the bat much faster than anyone could possibly throw them. For example, a 300-foot throw with a softball would be remarkable (and possible only at a high arc), yet batted balls that travel 350 feet or more are common at higher levels. The bat can probably impart more spin than a human could, too.