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The fluid dynamics of baseball pitches

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General

Things that don’t neatly fit into the other topics

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

Posted In General

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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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

The State of Baseball Aerodynamics: Post 47

Posted on February 10, 2020February 11, 2020 by bartonlsmith

The State of the Baseball Aerodynamics is Strong! Sorry, always have wanted to do that. I’ve been at this for about 14 months. I thought this would be a good time to provide a (hopefully) concise summary of what we have learned. Seam Effects on Pitch Break I nearly said Continue Reading

Posted In Drag, General, Seam-Shifted Wakes

Magnus Models and Constant Acceleration Assumptions: Post 46

Posted on February 8, 2020February 11, 2020 by bartonlsmith

There are two major issues with current pitch tracking in the MLB. The measurement system, Trackman, does not make a direct measurement of the spin that contributes to Magnus force. It assumes all accelerations are constant over the entire flight of the ball. Each of these is important. I know Continue Reading

Posted In General

Scuffed Baseballs: Post 44

Posted on January 17, 2020February 7, 2020 by bartonlsmith

What happens to the flight of a baseball once it is scuffed? We decided to find out. We started with a new 2019 MLB ball and fired it 12 times from our WSU cannon. The pitch distance is the standard 60.5 feet. The pitches were just below 90 mph and Continue Reading

Posted In General

Toward a Better Pitch Tracker: Post 43

Posted on January 6, 2020January 6, 2020 by bartonlsmith

All commercial pitch tracking devices either Measure the ball movement and total RPM and compute the active spin and axis based on a Magnus Effect model (Trackman) or Measure the RPM, axis and pitch location and predict the ball path (horizontal and vertical break) based on a Magnus Effect model Continue Reading

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2019 in Review: Post 40

Posted on December 29, 2019December 29, 2019 by bartonlsmith

With 2020 around the corner, I thought I’d step back and look at what we have learned. Just about a year ago, I wrote the questions shown below in italics. Below each question, I will describe my current understanding of that topic. What effects baseball drag? Seam height Center of Continue Reading

Posted In Drag, General, Seam-Shifted Wakes

How Does Pitching Work?: Post 39

Posted on December 21, 2019January 2, 2025 by bartonlsmith

I’d like to have a discussion between various the stakeholders of pitching. The three groups I am thinking of are pitchers, analytics folks, and physicists. I hope no one will complain if I put myself (a Mechanical Engineer) in the last category. This will be mostly (or maybe completely) about Continue Reading

Posted In General, Seam-Shifted Wakes

Magnus Effect – Seams and Roughness: Post 38

Posted on December 2, 2019October 14, 2023 by bartonlsmith

Magnus effect causes a force on a round spinning translating object that is perpendicular to the rotation axis and in the direction that the front surface of the ball is moving. These effects are critical to baseball pitching and also affects batted balls. The question that I’d like to answer Continue Reading

Posted In General

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