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Seam-Shifted Wakes

aka laminar express

Effect of Velocity or Altitude on Seam Shifted Wake. Part 3 of 4: Post 74

Posted on April 28, 2022April 28, 2022 by bartonlsmith

This is the third post based on John Garrett’s MS Thesis. Like 73, this won’t stand on its own. I recommend starting back at 72. Since the start of this work, all of our measurements have been made at 90 mph. We chose that number using what a friend of Continue Reading

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NEW SSW RESULTS: Effect of Seams Upstream (PART 2 OF 4). POST 73

Posted on February 19, 2022April 28, 2022 by bartonlsmith

Part 1 was focused on non-spinning balls in a 4S configuration at 90 mph. This post will turn the ball 90º to focus on 2S orientations. In the next post, we’ll talk about results from lower and higher speeds followed by spinning baseballs. For each of these cases, there are Continue Reading

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Post 72b: Separation upstream of a seam.

Posted on January 13, 2022January 13, 2022 by bartonlsmith

In post 72, I presented the map below (this post won’t make a lot of sense if you haven’t read that). This post will be about the blue region. A seam in this region (roughly from -10º to -28º) can sometimes cause laminar separation farther forward. The average location is Continue Reading

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New SSW Results: Baseballs these days don’t know who they want to be (Part 1 of 4). Post 72

Posted on January 11, 2022April 28, 2022 by bartonlsmith

My (now former) student, John Garrett (@jwillyg20) has been working on new measurements of Seam Shifted Wake (SSW) for a couple of years. He just wrapped them up around Christmas and will soon finalize his MS thesis. This and the next few posts will be based on that work. You Continue Reading

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The Cubs and Seam Shifted Wake: Post 70

Posted on April 11, 2021April 11, 2021 by bartonlsmith

I identify strongly with the Cubs and Seam-Shifted Wakes, so it’s a good day. Sahadev Sharma published an article in The Athletic on April 11, 2021 about how SSW affects the Cubs pitchers. He had noticed something I had also noted: that compared to a lot of teams, the Cubs Continue Reading

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PitchTracker: Post 69

Posted on April 1, 2021April 1, 2021 by bartonlsmith

Nice. One of the first challenges we encountered was a means to detect Seam Shifted Wake in pitches. Doing so requires a measurement of vertical and horizontal movement as well as spin metrics. Right now, if you are anyone other than a major league team (meaning you have a HawkEye Continue Reading

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2020 Seam Shifted Wake Leaderboards: Post 68

Posted on February 10, 2021February 10, 2021 by bartonlsmith

This made me realize it was high time that I made one. First, the best SSW T-shirt is this one: There are other boards out there. BaseballSavant.com has one I use often. Click leaderboards and then pitching and spin. For any given pitch type, you can sort on the “Deviation” Continue Reading

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Cliff Notes Seam Shifted Wake: Post 65

Posted on December 23, 2020December 23, 2022 by bartonlsmith

If you are new to this and you don’t feel like sifting through the last 64 posts or watching a 90 minute Zoom explanation, this post is for you! For more than a decade, baseball has worked under the assumption that pitched balls move primarily due to the competing forces Continue Reading

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Magnus and Seam Shifted Wake Effects on Wilson 1030 and MLB baseballs: Post 64

Posted on December 13, 2020December 13, 2020 by bartonlsmith

My 14-year-old son plays baseball, and his fastball is about 90% efficient. So naturally, I was wondering if the baseballs that they use, which have very large seams compared to an MLB ball, move similarly to MLB balls. In my previous post, a Wilson 1030 baseball was found to move Continue Reading

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Loopers, FA, CH, CU in the lab: Post 63

Posted on December 6, 2020December 8, 2020 by bartonlsmith

Here is an overlay of all the pitches I will be talking about in this post. Many thanks to Michael Augustine for making this beautiful overlay on short notice. Pitches 1-7, described below I am teaching a graduate measurements course this semester and the course requires a final project. I’ve Continue Reading

Posted In General, Seam-Shifted Wakes

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