Posted by: Unclebuck44 () on Sat Jul 2 21:38:04 2005

> > > A couple years ago i saw one kid from maryland or virginia who threw about 75 MPH and that translated to about 115 or something like that if it was at major league distance for reaction time. But that kid was 12 i would say 63 is pretty fast for a ten year old.
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> > Translate? 75mph is 75mph. This reminds me of women's Olympic softball pitching from 42 feet where TV announcers are always "translating" their weenie pitching speeds (about 65-70mph) into more impressive mens speeds.
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> That’s an interesting comment Unclebuck44!
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> Its my understanding that last year during an exhibition, Jenny Finch completely baffled a bunch of big name major league hitters with her “weenie pitching speeds”.
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> College and Olympic softball pitching distance is 43 feet, not 42.
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> Reaction time is a huge factor in hitting.


Olympic softball pitching was from 40 feet until a few years ago when the distance was slightly increased. Yeah, some major leaguers couldn't hit her. Wonder how much time they had to practice against softball pitching. Heck, some LL pitchers would give a few MLB sluggers trouble, too. You don't make the bigs by hitting 60 mph pitches. I don't hear of women softball sluggers trying their luck against Randy Johnson.

The fact is Jenny Finch is about as fast as a good Little Leaguer.