Posted by: Bryce (bsummers06@wou.edu) on Mon May 3 17:21:27 2010

> > can a ball travel off of the bat, faster than it comes from the
pitcher?? like in a line drive.

Hi Samuel,

The short answer is: yes. If you want a more detailed explanation,
read on.

When a baseball hits a wooden bat, it compresses, losing up to 75% of
it's energy (which corresponds to the speed of the ball coming from
the pitcher)[reference 1]. If the bat makes completely square contact
with the ball, as can happen in a line drive, the bat's energy
transfers into the ball, along with the 25% of the ball's energy that
remains.

So when you have a major league hitter, whose bat speed is near the
same as the speed of the pitch, the resulting line drive can be around
125% of the original speed of the pitch.

For more proof of the basic principle, have someone soft-toss you a
ball and hit it with a bat. If you make even decent contact, the ball
will fly much faster than it was tossed. Bat speed, not pitch speed,
is the greater determining factor in the final speed of the batted
ball.

Bryce