Posted by: brumil (brumil2@hotmail.com) on Mon Jan 19 08:58:39 2004

The average fastpitch pitcher throws at about 73-76 mph while the top pitchers will throw in excess of 82-85mph but not every time (excluding changeups). The years before my retirement I kept tags on the top pitchers and they were throwing consistently about 78-80mph so I will use 80mph. In the major leagues the top fastballers (Randy Johnson, Clemons) will throw 93-98mph consistently. Now the baseball pitchers speed is not so important for reaction time as it is a comparison for what a fastpitch batter must face when he hits.
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> The distance for a fastpitch pitcher delivery point will be 40ft due to the fact that the release point is at the hip. Most pitchers hips are at about 6ft in front of the rubber on release, the distance for a baseball pitcher will be at 53ft since the release point is ahead of the front foot. You could argue this with me a bit but I will try to be on the side of caution.
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> An 80mph pitch is 117.33 ft/second which gives the batter standing 40ft from the release point .341 of a second to hit the ball. A 95mph pitch is 139.33 ft/sec, which gives the batter standing 53ft from the release point .380 of a second to hit the ball. A baseball pitcher would have to throw the ball 155.42 ft/sec to accomplish the .341 reaction time for the baseball batter. This equates to a 106 mph fastball.
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> An 60MPH pitch from 36ft is 88ft/sec which give the batter .409 of a second to hit the ball. Which would be about 88MPH. However the top pitchers throw about 65MPH and this would equate to a 96MPH pitch.


Great numbers but I wonder when are those speeds being produced. Is it faster out of the pitchers hand or is it gaining or losing speed when it approaches the batter? That's why I believe that extra distance to pickup the ball in baseball vs. fp has to make hitting the baseball a little easier. Of course ball movement then throws a whole nother set of circumstances into the pot. Oh well, fun to talk about.