Pitchers and batters are quite familiar with the effect of spin on the trajectory of a ball. Scientists have studied the phenomenon and many have mathematically described the effect. More spin creates more curve. It's all about deceiving the batter, but until now few could measure it, and few have an idea of the spin rate required for a good breaking ball or for good movement on a fastball. Whatever you call it – “junk”, “stuff”, or “life”, the faster the spin, the sharper the break or the more the movement. A fastball with slow spin is straight as a string and fodder for a hitter, but with strong spin it slips more easily through the air and has ‘movement’ that frustrates batters. In fastpitch softball, strong backspin on the notorious riseball creates the powerfully deceptive appearance of ‘hop’ as it resists the downward pull of gravity.
Coaches have had the benefit of radar guns for many years but, until now, no way to measure spin rate. Not surprisingly, few coaches can tell you how much spin their pitchers impart on the ball or what criteria they set for breaking ball performance. When world-renowned management coach Peter Drucker said “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it”, he probably didn’t have in mind the spin rate of a ball, but the value of measurement and feedback is universal. Just as an athlete’s performance benefits from objective and immediate feedback, coaches’ training techniques evolve with the benefit of that same hard data. Pitchers rely on feedback from catchers and coaches, some of whom are hard pressed to accurately quantify breaking ball performance. New technology from RevFire Corporation provides precise, reliable, and immediate spin rate measurement in Revolutions Per Second (RPS) as well as speed in MPH.
Magnus Force A sideways force, lift force, or downward force on a pitched ball will result from the interaction with surrounding air when the ball’s spin orientation has one side of the ball moving into the oncoming air and one side retreating from the oncoming air. This force that causes curve or ‘movement’ is known as the Magnus force.
Pitchers can control four aspects of a pitch which will affect the Magnus force. These four are listed below. There exist other factors, such as the roughness of the ball’s surface that will not be considered here.
Primary Breaking Ball Factors: • Spin Rate • Velocity • Seam Orientation • Orientation of the ball’s axis of rotation
Spin Rate and Velocity The Magnus force on a pitch is proportional to the spin rate and the velocity of the pitch1. That means that doubling the spin rate while holding the velocity constant will double the Magnus force and double the amount of curve on a pitch.
Correspondingly, increasing the velocity on a curveball while keeping the spin rate constant will increase the Magnus force as well, but since it is traveling faster, the sideways deflection will not be greater. This is because the ball makes it to the catcher’s glove in less time then the slower ball; hence, the Magnus force has less time to act on pushing the ball sideways. However, greater velocity provides an obvious challenge to the batter: less time to react.
You can see the effect of changing the spin rate and speed on the curve of a pitch online at the NASA Curveball Simulator 2. For example, an 82 MPH pitch with 25 Revolutions Per Second (RPS) will deviate from the center of home plate by 14 inches. An 82 MPH pitch with 33 RPS will deviate from the center of home plate by 19 inches. As of October 2007, the NASA simulator does not work at the high spin rates actually produced by good breaking ball pitchers (over 2000 RPM). To convert the RPS (Revolutions Per Second) to the NASA simulator RPM (Revolutions Per Minute), multiply by 60.
Seam Orientation Seam orientation is an important factor as well. Studies have shown that for the spin rates and speeds typical for collegiate and professional baseball players, a 4-seam fastball will have 10% to 20% more lift than a 2-seam fastball3. This is a significant difference. The advantage of a 4-seam pitch over a 2-seam pitch is slightly more pronounced for high school age pitchers that are unable to achieve the higher spin rates of collegiate level pitchers.
Axis of Rotation The orientation of the axis of rotation of a pitched ball is important in determining the effectiveness of a pitch. It is possible, but uncommon to throw a spin orientation such that the ball is ‘rifling’ toward the plate; that is, the axis of rotation of the ball lies along the line from pitching rubber to home plate. This would be similar to the spin direction of a bullet shot out of a gun toward home plate. A ‘rifled’ pitch has little or no Magnus force on it and, therefore, no deflection to its flight path due to Magnus forces. Some contend that this is what the ‘gyro-ball’ was actually doing.
One technique used by pitching coaches to more easily discern the quality of the axis of rotation is to mark a ball with a circle around a major diameter of the ball. If the rotation is as desired, the coach can see the line, otherwise it will be a blur. Another technique is to draw a large dot on the ball. The dot would be put where the coach want the axis of rotation to intersect with the surface of the ball. If the pitcher achieves this, the dot appears as a tight dot in flight. If the pitcher does not achieve the desired axis of rotation, the dot appears as a big blurred area on the ball in flight.
Where Does It Curve? Where does the break actually occur along the flight of a thrown ball? Physics says that the Magnus forces are acting upon the flight of the ball fairly equally from rubber to plate since the spin rate decreases only slightly during flight. But coaches typically see it break late on the way to the plate. Actually, what the coaches see is not contrary to physics. The rate that a breaking ball deviates from a straight line from the mound to home plate increases as the ball gets closer to the plate. That is, the sideways motion is accelerating. Hence, breaking balls do half of their ‘breaking’ in the last quarter of the flight – a real problem for batters since they start their swing well before the last quarter.
Typical RPS Numbers Finally, what spin rate do talented baseball pitchers put on a pitch? A good curveball or slider by a college or professional baseball pitcher with good velocity will spin at more than 37 revolutions per second (RPS). Some pitches have been clocked at over 43 RPS. At the high school level, pitchers vary greatly from the mid-20’s to the high-30’s depending on ability. For fastpitch softball the spin rates are lower, but due to the larger surface area of the ball, the Magnus effect is more pronounced. A good fastpitch softball curveball or riseball by a college or pro pitcher with high velocity will be above 24 RPS. Some fastpitch softball pitchers are able to achieve as much as 30 RPS. Spin rate data for various age levels is available at http://www.revfire.com/coaching_data.htm.
More Information To learn more about the RevFiretm visit www.RevFire.com. To gain a greater understanding of the physics involved in the game of baseball, a good resource that is an enjoyable read is “The Physics of Baseball” by Robert K. Adair, Sterling Professor of Physics, Yale University. Available online is “Physics of Baseball – A Study of Pitching”, 5/1/2000, by Michael Berger of Princeton University.
References (1) Bearman, P.W. and Harvey, J.K., 1976, “Golf ball aerodynamics”, Aeronautical Quarterly, Issue 27. (2) http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/foil2ba.html (3) Alaways, L.W. and Hubbard, M. 2001, “Experimental determination of baseball spin and lift”, Journal of Sport Sciences, 2001, Issue 19.
Pitchers and batters are quite familiar with the effect of spin on the trajectory of a ball. Scientists have studied the phenomenon and many have mathematically described the effect. More spin creates more curve. It's all about deceiving the batter, but until now few could measure it, and few have an idea of the spin rate required for a good breaking ball or for good movement on a fastball. Whatever you call it – “junk”, “stuff”, or “life”, the faster the spin, the sharper the break or the more the movement. A fastball with slow spin is straight as a string and fodder for a hitter, but with strong spin it slips more easily through the air and has ‘movement’ that frustrates batters. In fastpitch softball, strong backspin on the notorious riseball creates the powerfully deceptive appearance of ‘hop’ as it resists the downward pull of gravity. 
