On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, I hosted a public Zoom presentation on our current understanding. It was attended by 100 people (my Zoom limit) including representatives from 14 MLB teams (that I know of). Click the photo below for a link to the full presentation.
bartonlsmith
The Effect of Gyro on Optimal SSW Orientation: Post 60
If you are new to the idea of Seam Shifted Wake pitches, I recommend downloading and viewing this presentation which is about 45 minutes long. I realize that is a lot of time, but this is a complex topic. That said, I think the presentation is easy to understand. As Continue Reading
Seam Shifted Wake Predictions for 2020-2021
We’ve learned a lot in the last year. One thing I am more convinced of than ever: Seam Shifted Wake (SSW) pitches are common. They have been hidden from us because of the limitations of our measurement systems and well-intentioned efforts to mitigate those limitations. Based on our research, data Continue Reading
The Apparent Tilt of Seam Shifted Wake Pitches: Post 59
Conventional pitches break because of two forces, gravity and Magnus force (the ball experiences drag also, but drag his little effect on the direction of a pitch). When a Seam Shifted Wake (SSW) occurs, the forces causing break are gravity, Magnus force and the SSW force. This article will assume Continue Reading
Diagnosing and Modeling SSW pitches: Post 58
I’ve carried on about this, but if you throw a Seam Shifted Wake pitch, there is currently no way to know that it moved differently than any other pitch. I’ve known for some time that this was an obstacle to our work. I’ve been told many times that these effects Continue Reading
How to tell if you threw a SSW pitch, sinker/changeup edition: Post 57
This is a sinker/changeup edition because it is focused on vertical movement. I may tackle horizontal movement later. Say you are an ambitious pitcher looking to get ahead and have drank our Seam Shifted Wake Koolaid (it’s good!) Did the pitch work? How can you know? Note that, on their Continue Reading
Killing Laminar Flow: Post 56
When you hear people describe flow over baseballs, there is frequent reference to the seams causing Laminar flow to become Turbulent. To start, I’d better explain what those terms mean. Laminar flow is what Juniors in Physics or Engineering learn about in their fluid dynamics class. It is usually steady Continue Reading
Case Study– Good and Bad Discoball: Post 55
Michael Augustine (https://twitter.com/AugustineMLB) and I were recently discussing a couple of Strasburg “Discoball” changeups. The impetus of the discussion was Trip Somer’s new tool (Trip is @one_pitch_man) that allows one to enter tilt, efficiency and orientation of the pitch and visualize what that looks like spinning at any RPM from Continue Reading
Using Baseball Seams to Create Break:Post 54
This is the presentation that I have made to the staff of several Grapefruit-League MLB teams. I wanted to make it easily accessible to the rest of the MLB teams by putting a version here. I try to make most of my posts viewable on a phone, but this one Continue Reading
What Magnus Effect Looks Like: Post 53
My PhD Student, Nazmus Sakib, just published our first paper together, which was on Magnus Force and Reverse Magnus on golf balls. You can download it here if you are interested. While this site is about baseballs, Magnus is a lot easier to see on a golf ball since flow Continue Reading
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