QUESTION: Softball Speed VS Baseball Speed

[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