QUESTION: Softball Speed VS Baseball Speed

[gogobal]

Originally Posted by BretMan

Ummmm...55 miles per hour.

If something is traveling 55 mph, it is traveling 55 mph if it is a baseball, a softball, a golf ball or a banana...

Now, the time it takes to travel a given distance will be shorter if the distance is shorter!

The distance being the SAME, I am writing an article with Softball FAQ and cannot find the information any where on the Internet. I have asked several people, umpires, coaches, directors etc and everyone agrees that their is a calcualtion but no one seems to know the answer. Thanks Any Way.

[wadeintothem]

Ah just goofin around.. that was funny though!!

There are some calculations here .. essentially 60 mph = 90 mph

http://www.abington.k12.pa.us/bujaem.../previous/Math in softball.ppt

some smart kid put that together.

[semperfiguy]

Whats the old bar adage--at 10:00 she is a 2 but at 2:00 she is a 10!!

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by semperfiguy

Whats the old bar adage--at 10:00 she is a 2 but at 2:00 she is a 10!!

well then theres..

I never had me a 10.. but I sure had 5 good 2's!!

Originally Posted by wadeintothem

Ah just goofin around.. that was funny though!!

There are some calculations here .. essentially 60 mph = 90 mph

http://www.abington.k12.pa.us/bujaem.../previous/Math in softball.ppt

some smart kid put that together.

The correct link is:

http://www.abington.k12.pa.us/bujaem...20softball.ppt

This is indeed a Power Point presentation and is an interesting comparison of softball and baseball.

[wadeintothem]

Originally Posted by GrumpUmp

The correct link is:

http://www.abington.k12.pa.us/bujaem...20softball.ppt

This is indeed a Power Point presentation and is an interesting comparison of softball and baseball.

yeah thats it, thanks!

[Stu Clary]

Originally Posted by gogobal

...and everyone agrees that their is a calcualtion...

I don't know about that, but I'd guess that there is a calculation.

[WestMichBlue]

Originally Posted by gogobal

The distance being the SAME, I am writing an article with Softball FAQ and cannot find the information any where on the Internet. I have asked several people, umpires, coaches, directors etc and everyone agrees that their is a calcualtion but no one seems to know the answer. Thanks Any Way.

The distance is NOT the same. Softball is pitched at 40' or 53' or 46' or whatever. Baseball is pitched at 60'. But a SB moving at 55mph at any distance is moving at the same speed as a BB thrown at 55mp, regardless of the distance. Duh!

What you need to do is ask the right question. You are looking for reaction time; how much time does a SB batter have to see the pitch vs a BB batter with a ball thrown at an equivalent speed. Your question should be:

If a softball traveling at 55mp pitched from 40' gets to the plate in X seconds, what speed does a baseball travel to get to the plate in the same time.

So: SB at 55mph X 5,280'/3600 sec = 80.67 f/s /40' = 2.02 sec X 60' X 3600 / 5280 = 82.5mph BB pitch.

However - a SB pitcher will release the pitch 5' to 7' in front of the plate, while a BB pitcher releases the pitch 3' to 4' in front of the plate. A SB batter stands in the front of the box while a BB batter stands in back, another 5' difference.

So you need to compare a SB traveling about 32' vs a BB traveling about 58'.

Simple ratio, as NewNCref noted: 55 / 32 x 58 = 99.7 mph.

OK?

WMB

[CajunNewBlue]

You got my respect...mathematically speaking

[NCASAUmp]

Well, there are multiple things to consider here. What's your bottom line? Is it: "Is it harder to hit a softball pitch vs. a baseball pitch?" Is it: "Is it harder to pitch a softball 55 MPH or a baseball 90 MPH?"

What's your goal here?

[BretMan]

But...but...but...

Some leagues and ages don't pitch from 40 feet! Might be 35 or 43 or 46.

Baseball pitchers release the ball 3-4 feet in front of the plate? Even Randy Johnson?

Front of the batter's box versus back of the box? Every batter's a little different.

What about the cross sectional area of the ball? A softball is bigger, so there is more drag and it slows at a greater rate than the baseball. Are you ready to introduce a little calculus into your FAQ's? Probably not.

No matter which of these adjustments you make, your answer will be nothing more than a rough estimate. It's impossible to come up with a formula that takes every variable into consideration. So make it simple.

Stick with the 60 ft/40 ft ratio between the baseball and softball pitching distances. (You can forget about that darn 6 inches, since this is a rough estimate and it won't make much difference).

That's 60/40, or 3/2, or 1.5.

Using that ratio, a 55 mph softball pitch at 40 feet will reach the plate in about the same amount of time as a baseball pitch traveling:

55 mph X 1.5 = 82.5 mph

[ronald]

Now do the math for men's fast pitch at 75-80mph from 40 feet. Them boys that can hit it have extraordinary reflexes.

[Dutch Alex]

Originally Posted by ronald

Now do the math for men's fast pitch at 75-80mph from 40 feet. Them boys that can hit it have extraordinary reflexes.

I've played men's FP from age 13 until age 30. In between one year baseball. I still can hit a softball, but got one season long 3K in BB.
It's not only (extraordinary) reflexes, more what one is gotten used to. Having the pitch coming down from shoulder height or getting up/staying at belly-heigt...
A danish pitcher, who was in our team somewhere in the 90's, had a riser I couldn't catch. In the last five years I've faced him as a PU, still missed that pitch every time! Now he knows: When I'm the PU, he doesn't want or expect that pitch be called a strike by me...

I've never done the math for compairing BB and men's FP; I've always liked SB better than BB...

[bkbjones]

I also know that when the catcher whiffs on a fastball from a D1 pitcher or you get that pesky foul that comes looking for you and it hits you, it hurts like a (your euphanism here).