The myth of the rising fastball.

[MarkB]

Years ago, baseball players and fans commonly believed that it was possible to throw a rising fastball--a pitch that would curve upward or hop as it approached the batter. This could be done, it was thought, by gripping the baseball across the seams and releasing the pitch with a wrist snap that would impart a pronounced backspin on the ball. Although they could not explain why it happened, pitchers, batters and catchers were convinced that if the pitch were thrown at high speed--over 90 mph--it would rise as it crossed the plate, causing the batter to misjudge the trajectory and swing under the ball. They were certain the ball rose because they could see it rise.

As a longtime baseball fan and a physicist specializing in the physics of sports, I was curious to find out whether the rising fastball was for real. After all, a baseball must obey the laws of physics, and there was a well-established theory and sufficient data available to allow me to calculate the aerodynamic forces on a baseball in flight. The basic principles are relatively simple. After the ball leaves the pitcher's hand, it is subject to just three forces: gravity (equal to the weight of the ball) pulling it vertically downward; aerodynamic drag, created by the collision of the ball with the surrounding air, which reduces its forward speed; and what is known as the Magnus force, generated by the interaction of the spinning surface of the ball with the air. The ball generates a low-pressure wake behind it as it moves through the air, but if the surface is spinning, the wake is deflected sideways. According to Newton's law of action and reaction, if the ball deflects the air to one side, the air will push the ball in the opposite direction. The Magnus force always acts perpendicular to the path of the ball, deflecting it sideways according to the direction of spin. It is this force that allows pitchers to throw a repertoire of breaking balls--curveballs, sliders, sinkers, etc.--by adjusting the rate and direction of the spin on the ball along with the speed and location of the pitch. To throw a rising fastball, the Magnus force must be directed upward, opposing the pull of gravity, and this can be achieved by throwing the ball with backspin. If the Magnus force is greater than the weight of the ball, then the net force on the ball will cause it to rise.

When I ran computer simulations of pitches, I made some interesting discoveries. I learned that over the standard pitching distance of 60 ft. 6 in., a ball loses about 9 percent of its initial speed due to aerodynamic drag--thus a pitch launched at 90 mph will have slowed to 81 mph when it reaches the batter. The pitch takes only about 0.44 second to cover the distance. During this interval the ball falls about 3 ft. due to the pull of gravity. A batter has less than half a second to judge the trajectory of the ball, decide whether to swing, and then bring his bat around to the projected point of contact. Hitting a baseball at the major league level, I discovered, is a truly remarkable feat.

Most significantly, I discovered that in order for the ball to truly rise in flight--for the Magnus force to exceed the weight of the ball--the pitch would have to be launched with a backspin of more than 3600 rpm. This is far beyond the capacity of any major league pitcher. High-speed photography shows that spin rates of about 1800 rpm are the best that can be achieved. Thus, it is not humanly possible to throw a true rising fastball. With the ball spinning at 1800 rpm and traveling at 90 mph, the Magnus force retards the vertical drop by a little more than a foot. Instead of dropping 3 ft. vertically on its way to the plate, the ball drops slightly less than 2 ft. I concluded that the rising fastball is an optical illusion. The ball appears to rise only because it doesn't fall as much as the batter expects it to--in other words, the ball rises only in relation to the batter's expectations.

Over time, a number of other scientists have verified my results. The most convincing confirmation has come from real-time tracking of baseball pitches using multiple video cameras and rapid computerized reconstruction of the trajectories. To the best of my knowledge, no one has ever recorded a fastball rising as it crosses the plate. A Google search on the term "rising fastball" reveals dozens of articles all attesting to the fact that the rising fastball is an optical illusion. To the exquisitely trained eyes of a top-flight batter or catcher, the ball appears to rise because it does not fall as much as it would without the backspin.

Peter J. Brancazio

Professor Emeritus of Physics

Brooklyn College, The City University of New York

[Sean O]

Heh, I just read this from the link you posted, very interesting.

Whenever I set up a fantasy player on my team in MVP, I create a submariner with a sinker and a hot fastball, as the sinker can drop either low in the zone so it never gets above like 2 or 3 feet on the ground, or it can be aimed right at the top of the strike zone, barely curving into it. This, combined with a straight fastball aimed directly above the strike zone confuses the hell out of batters.

My perfect pitch list:

4-seam fastball, cut fastball, sinker, curve, change. Everything you could possibly need.

Mark, any luck finding a good list of pitching psychology that could be used for MVP folks here? It doesn't do us any good to know how to grip a ball when we're playing in game, but a comprehensive list of where not to throw the ball on certain counts and in certain situations could be really useful.

[janne1720]

Very intriguing article, but I always wondered if submariner style pitchers could throw a ball that rises since it starts below their waist, or even close to their knees and can end up at the batters' letters. Of course, the mound is higher than the level of the batter, so if it really did rise, it wouldn't be a strike

[MarkB]

I think submariners defy the logic of the rising fastball, since they would actually be aiming the pitch upwards when thrown.

Sean, I'll have a look.

EDIT - Sean, have a look in the links thread I just created. There is a link in there that has some good information. :)

[NYM]

If i were a submarine pitcher i could throw a rising fastaball. :-)

I think you would have to have some sort of tremndous snap in your rist to do that. You would have to snap it back in a half second. I think it could be done...but probably wont be until they make space stations with baseball fields on them and low gravity. :-) lol

[statelizard]

Submariners can throw a "Rising" fastball, but not because they defy the laws of gravity, but rather because the launch trajectoty is different. Whereas an overhand pitcher is throwing the ball in a straight/downward motion, a submariner is launching the ball upwards. If that ball is thrown with enough force, or the peak point of trajectory has not been met by the time the ball crosses the plate, then the ball in effect will continue to rise. When the ball is launched upwards it will rise until it reaches a peak and then it will descend. As the article that mark cited stated an over the top pitcher won't be able to throw a rising fastball, a submariner, assuming the release point is lower than where the ball meets home plate, would be capable of throwing a "rising" fastball.

P.S. - I dig the new forum. Baseball 101, where we can all come to share knowledge and have intelligent conversations as opposed to nit-picking arguments.

[McDiddy]

I think what most people mistake as a rising fastball is one that doesnt go down. The pitchers always throw down from the mound, but a "rising fastball" is a pitch that is thrown straight. Batters expect the trajectory to mean that the ball will come down to be in their strikezone. So if it goes straight it has a rising appearance. Its a interesting topic, to be sure.

[Zephyr]

The rising fastball is an optical illusion. You see it from guys who have an over the top delivery and who are taller than you. As they stride down from the mound, they release the ball much higher than their body is. When you look at the pitch in relation to the players body, if it's high in the zone, it looks like it comes up on you.

Of course, it doesn't really rise due to the general laws of physics.

Most players throw the ball with a downward motion. Hell, even without applying physics, common sense tells you that the ball can't rise if you're throwing it with a downward motion.

[polarisslbm]

That was a good interesting read. Especially the bit about a baseball losing 9% of its velocity.

This means that pitches Nolan Ryan threw started off around 115 mph... !!!

[SwinginSoriano]

Read something like this in Popular Mechanics.

Who said that a curveball didn't curve though...

[Dan]

I don't throw submarine cause my coach hates it, but I can get it to rise, very effective once in the last pitch of the last out of the last inning of the last game of the season.

[RRodkey]

I've been an umpire for several years and over that time I witnessed pitches that seemed to "explode" as they reached the plate. Some pitchers have the natural gift of being able to get special movement on their fastballs.

Although I agree that the ball does not actually rise as it reaches the plate (indeed the effect is a bit of an optical illusion), some pitchers can achieve remarkable movement on their fastballs that make the pitch almost impossible to hit.

It's the timing of the movement more than the actual movement. When a pitcher is "on" or has his "stuff" working just right, the ball seems to jump (or move) just before it reaches the batter.

[mvpmodder07]

It depends on the grip on the ball. I've never seen a pitch break up. I've seen fastballs dive but never rise. Its usually when someone gets under the ball or catches some kind of current and just carries.

[cb]

That's pretty facinating that a pitch loses about 10% of it's speed due to drag. That means I have a 94 MPH Fastball when i release it. Thats really cool. Very interesting read Mark, thanks.

[rynox]

Science is only as good as the model you're operating with.

See...

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNGUB88KEV1.DTL

Apparently science also says it's impossible for Barry Bonds to hit a home run into the bay. The model is must not be accurate.

*** Hell, even without applying physics, common sense tells you that the ball can't rise if you're throwing it with a downward motion. ***

Not exactly. I can throw a wiffleball that rises as it approaches the batter. Obviously MLB pitchers aren't throwing wiffleballs, but it demonstrates how a ball with the right spin, velocity, etc. can theoretically develop enough low pressure above the ball and high pressure below to rise.

[MikeB]

It is not, in any way, possible for a fastball to gain height as it approaches the plate. It is completely physically impossible. Secondly, any physicist that states that it should be impossible for Barry Bonds to hit a home run into the Bay should have their degree stripped from their alma mater.

[CardsFan4Ever]

You can argue physics all you want but the term "rising fastball" or his "fastball has a hop on it" are not meaningless terms in MLB history. Anyone here old enough to remember Sandy Koufax or the pitch Bob Gibson used most often to strike out all those Tigers in the first game of the 68 series? True the ball is not really truly rising to any really measureable degree and illusion comes into play but the point is the relationship of the ball to the batter as it crosses the plate- before it begins to drop down to any measureable degree into the catchers mit. High speed power pitchers of the 60's like Gibson and Koufax were masters of the high strike, i.e. hard and mostly straight fastballs that started up and stayed up in the very top part of the strike zone for batters to flail away at to know avail. Eventually any pitched ball has to come to a downward arc at some point but velocity has a great deal to do with how much a pitch will drop before being caught by the catcher, regardless of a pitchers arm motion. (Also it is a myth that all pitchers use the exact same arm motion on all pitches at all times) The term "rising fastball" basically came out of the almost lost art of the high strike fastball. One must keep in mind that over the years Umpires just got to where they refused to call the strike zone according to the rule book, and some still don't, and anything above the belt was wrongfully called a ball. Eventually pitchers had to adapt and over the years lost the art of pitching high in the zone effectively. Yes, illusion comes into play because the high Hard one from a Gibson is coming in and the batter assumes it will begin to come down and swings under it. So to be technical, yes the ball doesn't rise but it didn't drop hardly at all while crossing the plate past the batter. The term "rising fastball" is just an erroneous term for the old high hard one that stayed high and straight.

[SwinginSoriano]

Back then they called a high strike, now the strikezone is like half the size, though it has become wider.