Velociy differences between pitcher types

sk · Guest

How does the release velocity get computed? Is it assumed to be the max velocity?

Is it possible that the arm velocity is picked up and figured into the final out come?

I notice that sometimes a “side arm” pitcher will have the ratio of glove velocity to average velocity higher than a pitcher where the ball is “hidden” for a longer time.

opticsplanet.com · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 7:27 am Post subject:

Hi

Which unit are you referring to?

All radar units pick up the highest velocity, which is typically the release velocity. Basic physics dictates that the release arm cannot travel as fast as the ball, so it would not be calculated into the velocity.
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sk · Guest

Which unit are you referring to?

No specific unit because I don’t know exactly what models were being used.

All radar units pick up the highest velocity, which is typically the release velocity.

I understand that, but it is very possible that some pitch types are released in such a way that they do travel at a lower velocity than the arm. IN that case, wouldn’t the arm speed reflect the highest velocity?

Basic physics dictates that the release arm cannot travel as fast as the ball, so it would not be calculated into the velocity.

But what I’m asking is, what goes into the calculation? There’s no way possible that any gun can discriminate between the ball and the hand at release, but it is very likely that the hand moving forward could give a reading.

Let me try to give an example.

Lets assume we have a side armed and basically an “over-the-top” thrower. Let’s further assume that the OTT guy has a max velocity of 90 and a glove velocity of 80. Without taking into account that the velocity is checked many more than 2 times, the average would be 85.

What I’m saying is, on many occasions it “appears” that SA guys with a glove velocity of 80 have a lower “average”, which would indicate to me that the arm/hand velocity was being somehow calculated into the average, and that since the arm for a SA guy will be visible longer than the OTT guy, it would tend to lower the average.

opticsplanet.com · Posted: Wed May 17, 2006 3:15 pm Post subject:

Hi

It will simply pick up the fastest target. If a pitcher can manage to throw his arm faster than the ball, yes, it would pick that up, but that is atypical. The ball will also be the primary target since it will still be moving after the arm has stopped.
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sk · Guest

Does that mean once a faster target is picked up it resets itself as far as averages go?

I’m sorry to be a bother, but having worked a bit with radar in the service, the whole concept of using the gun for a pitched baseball has me confused.

FI, Radar is line-of-sight, so if a gun is directly behind the catcher, such as at a HS game where the user is basically standing at the same height as the pitcher, catcher and umpire, the gun can only “see” the ball when something isn’t in between it and the ball.

That indicates to me, that the same pitch measured with the gun behind the backstop and with those things blocking it, would get different “glove” and “average” readings than if it was mounted on a tripod where the catcher’s glove would be. That makes perfect sense to me because its seeing the ball for the maximum length of time.

It also seems to make sense that depending on where the user is, slightly different readings by different guns would show up. I.e., a gun at ground level directly behind the backstop would read differently than one up in the press box.