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bartonlsmith

How to tell if you threw a SSW pitch, sinker/changeup edition: Post 57

Posted on May 14, 2020July 29, 2020 by bartonlsmith

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

Posted In General

Killing Laminar Flow: Post 56

Posted on April 7, 2020April 7, 2020 by bartonlsmith

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

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Case Study– Good and Bad Discoball: Post 55

Posted on April 1, 2020April 1, 2020 by bartonlsmith

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

Posted In Seam-Shifted Wakes

Using Baseball Seams to Create Break:Post 54

Posted on March 29, 2020March 29, 2020 by bartonlsmith

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

Posted In Seam-Shifted Wakes

What Magnus Effect Looks Like: Post 53

Posted on March 24, 2020July 14, 2021 by bartonlsmith

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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Relationship between Orientation and gyro for Seam-Shifted Wake pitches: Post 52

Posted on March 10, 2020March 31, 2020 by bartonlsmith

We have previously stated that the “Looper” works for efficient (no gyro) pitches, and that the “laminar express” and “discoball” changeup require some gyro. I’ve been advocating that folks try the looper since I have been unable to tell them how much gyro they need for the other pitches. But Continue Reading

Posted In Seam-Shifted Wakes

Describing Ball Orientation: Post 51

Posted on March 9, 2020December 2, 2022 by bartonlsmith

Note that this post has been updated to reflect an change in the origin of Orientation. One of our main messages has been that: The ball Orientation relative to the axis is important. And for the people who are willing to consider that idea, the obvious question is :how do Continue Reading

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How to use the Looper and Scuffball: Post 50

Posted on February 27, 2020February 28, 2020 by bartonlsmith

We’ve recently shown results of two Seam Shifted Wake pitches with no gyro. The Scuffball and the Looper. These pitches involve using a specific orientation between the seams and the axis of rotation. As a result, we can generate break independently of the Magnus effect. One novel feature of these Continue Reading

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A Zero-Gyro Seam Shifted Wake Pitch–The Looper: Post 49

Posted on February 17, 2020February 18, 2020 by bartonlsmith

We have had a hard time demonstrating seam shifted wake pitches like the Laminar Express or the Discoball Changeup because our pitching machine (and, indeed, pretty much every pitching machine not located in Pullman) cannot do gyro. But, my graduate student, Andrew Smith (who is looking for a job), found Continue Reading

Posted In Seam-Shifted Wakes

Rapsodo 1.0 and Seam Shifted Wake pitches: Post 48

Posted on February 15, 2020April 10, 2020 by bartonlsmith

I’ll start right out by saying this post is not a criticism of the Rapsodo technology. I think what these folks have provided for the price is pretty amazing (and I’m really geeked about their new camera, which looks like a game changer) But, like any technology, it has limits, Continue Reading

Posted In General, Seam-Shifted Wakes

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