![]() An interesting article by breaks down this effect statistically to help you better understand this phenomenon. This leads to higher swing and miss rates, as can be seen by the differences in the data. When a pitch is thrown with more spin, the Magnus Effect, an observable phenomenon that is commonly associated with a spinning object moving through a fluid, is increased which helps the ball defy gravity and appear to rise to the hitter. It makes sense that these three statistics vary similarly since they scientifically correlate with one another. The most interesting data from my analysis seems to be that swinging strikes tend to come on pitches thrown with a higher spin rate (54.13 RPM difference), more vertical movement (.09 ft or about a 1-inch difference), and a higher vertical position by. Yet this is also logical given that the further from the heart of the plate a pitch is, the harder it is to hit. It is also noticeable that the horizontal position (adjusted for righties and lefties with absolute value) was about an inch further from the middle of the plate. ![]() This is a considerable difference when considering that the data is being taken from thousands of pitches, but is not surprising considering the data. The first thing that jumps out from the data is that swinging strikes were thrown. If these patterns existed, then I could apply those findings to individual pitchers to see why their swing and miss percentage is the way it is. My hope was to see which factors contributed to pitchers missing bats. The first data set analyzed came from the subset of every fastball from the 2018 season that was either put in play or unsuccessfully swung at. By taking the averages of each of these categories for various statistics and taking the difference of the two averages, I was able to identify what else made fastballs hard to hit besides speed. I narrowed down the data set by looking at those pitches were put in play and swinging strikes. Their website has statistics that go beyond how fast the ball was thrown to include where it was released, how much it moved, where it was located and the spin it had on it. ![]() To answer this question, I looked at data from thousands of fastballs thrown over the course of the 2018 MLB season on. So what other factors dictate the effectiveness of a fastball? That being said, there are pitchers who throw hard fastballs and don’t generate many swinging strikes and those who make hitters whiff at fastballs in the high 80s. But if speed was the only thing that makes up a good fastball, then there would be a near perfect correlation between velocity and swinging strike rate. This process manifests itself in higher strikeout numbers for pitchers who throw faster every year. Anyone who’s played baseball knows that the harder the pitch is thrown, the harder it is to make contact. ![]()
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